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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



HEAD LIGHTS 

No. I. 



WASHINGTON 



BY 



REV. A. M. BULLOCK, Ph. D. 

Author of **MoRMONISM amd t^e Mormcns, 
**Search Ligh-^s,'' ecc. 



'The Hero, the Patriot and tJ.e Sage." 

— Chief Justice Marshall. 



'The purest figure in history." — Gladstone. 



"Virtue and vice cannot be allied." — Washington. 



"America furnished the character of Washington, 
and if she had done nothing more, she would deserve the 
respect of mankind. ' ' — Webster. 



<<i 



'I vv'alk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely 
an action the motive of which may not be subjected to 
a double interpretation. There is scarcely any part of 
my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into 
precedent. * ' — Washington. 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

DEC 30 1903 

I Copyfight Entry 
^k . : - ; 1 f 3 
CLASS a- XXc No. 



^ ,l1 



,r3 



^3 



Washinfftoniana 



■' -^ CoifyrlgJiteSl by the Author, 
• "'\ .1903. 





George M. Steel, D. D., LL. D. W. F. Warren, S. T. D., LL. D. 



To my beloved Teachers, the eminent 
William F. Warren and George M. 
Steele, — and others who have impressed 
themselves upon my life, thought and 
work, this book is affectionately dedicated 
by the author. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

standing in the marble room at the Oapitol in 
Washington, one may see an almost endless num- 
ber of images, reflected from one mirror to anoth- 
er; each reproduction losing nothing in detail or 
clearness by this long procession on either side. 
In like manner, standing at the opening of the last 
century of our national life, one may see a long 
procession of events bearing the impress of Wash- 
ington, his work and charaoter reflected forward 
in the marvelous events of the century. Tliese 
have called forth, during the century, numerous 
volumes and character sketches touching upon the 
life of this remarkable man. The facts and char- 
acteristics which make up the portraiture of char- 
acter herein presented are to be found somewhere 
in this long procession of portraitures, in reflec- 
tive history. The position, the tinting and group- 
ing, the shaping and adjusting in reference to the 
light of history, and events which bear his im- 
press, will be new; and it is hoped may bring out 
some of these qualities, traits and characteristics 
with added clearness so as to add new interest in 
the study of Washington. 

In this portraiture the author would gratefully 
acknowledge his indebtedness to original docu- 
ments and to numerous writers, those contem- 
porary with Washington and those of more recent 
date. Valuable suggestions from personal friends 
have also been received and are thankfully ac- 
knowledged. A. M. B. 




MARBLE ROOM, CAPITOL, WASHINGTON. 



CONTENTS 



PAGK. 

Author's Preface 4 

Prelude 6 

Washington's Triumph 7 

Underestimate of Men !» 

A Conventional and False Washington . . . .11 

Hero Worship 13 

Environments and Influence. 14 

Physical and Social Characteristics 17 

Mental Temperament 20 

Intemperance 21 

Gambling, Dueling, Etc. ....... 22 

Slavery 23 

Mental and Moral Attainments 25 

The Crisis and the Man 28 

An Outline Picture j 30 

Commander-in-Chief 40 

New England and New York 41 

On the Delaware 42 

Trenton and Princeton 43 

Valley Forge 47 

Monmouth 49 

Yorktown 50 

Newburgh 52 

Leave-taking 56 

Federal Convention . , 57 

President— Building the Nation 59 

Home Life— Character Impress— Genesis of Imperishable 

Work . .68 

Summary 74 

Appendix 81 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Frontispiece — Capitol at Washington — Development of 
Building— Laying of Cornerstone, 1793. 

George "Washington. 

Marble Room— Capitol Building at Washington. 

AVashington— Group. 

Washington's Triumph. 

Committee on Declaration of Independence Signing the 
Declaration. 

Washington — From Stuart's Painting. 

Signing the Declaration. 

Washington tating command of the Army at Cambridge. 

A Group of Army Head-quarters. 

Washington Crossing the Delaware. 

Valley Forge. 

Night before the Battle — Monmouth. 

Washington and General Lee at Monmouth. 

Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. 

Washington, Rochambeau. De Grasse, La Fayette and 
Cornwallis. 

Newburgh. 

Leave-taking. 

A Group of Leading Members— Federal Convention. 

Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson and Chief-Justice Jay. 

Interior of Mount Vernon Mansion. 

George and Martha Washington— Group. 

Mount Vernon, Tomb, Noted Buildings and Land-mai-ks — 
Group. 

Carlyle Mansion. 

Historic Churches. 

Alexandria Lodge, A. F. A. M. No. 22 — Washington, as 
Worshipful and first Master. 

Washington's Coat-of-Arms. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



"Thank God! the people's choice was just, 

The one man equal to his trust, 
Wise beyond lore, and without weakness good, 
Calm in the strength of flawless rectitude! 

"His rule of justice, order, peace, 
Made possible the world's release; 
Taught prince and serf that power is but a trust, 
And rule, alone, which serves the ruled, is just." 

— Whit tier. 



"No nobler figure ever stood in the forefront of 
a nation's life. Washington was grave and cour- 
teous in address; his manners were simple and 
unpretending; his silence and the serene calmness 
of his tamper spoke of a perfect self-mastery; but 
there was little in his outer bearing to reveal the 
grandeur of soul which lifts his figure, with all 
the simple majesty of an ancient statue, out of the 
smaller passions, the meaner impulses of the world 
around him. It was only as the weary fight went 
on that the colonists learned, little by little, the 
greatness of their leader — ^his clear judgment, his 
heroic endurance, his silence under difficulties, his 
calmness in the hour of danger or defeat, the 
patience with wliich he waited, the quickness and 
hardness with which he struck, the lofty and serene 
sense of duty that never swei^ved from its task 
through resentment or jealousy, that never through 
war or peace felt the touch of a meaner ambition, 
that knew no aim save that of guarding the free- 
dom of his fellow-countrymen, and no personal 
longing save that of returning to his own fireside 
when their freedom was secured. It was almost 
unconsciously that men learned to cling to Wash- 
ington with a trust and faith such as few other 
men have won, and to regard him with a reverence 
which still hushes us in presence of his memfory." 
— J. R. Green; History of the English People. 

"When I first read in detail the life of Washing- 
'ton, I was profoundly impressed with the moral 
eleA^ation and greatness of his character, and I 
found mj'self at a loss to name among the states- 
men of any age or country many, or possibly any, 
who could be his rival." — W. E. Gladstone. 




GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

At 58. Painting, White Houdon's Statue 

Hovise. at 53. 

At 47. I'.uttre's Engraving, from Stuart. 

At 44. At 55. At 63. 



At 40. 



As a Mason. 

At 58. 




Washington's triumpl 
march, Trenton. 



Leaving Mt. Vernon. 



Mordecai's Triumph. 



Washington taking oath as 
President, Federal Hall, X. Y. 



Statue of Washington, front 
Subtreasurv, N. V., site of 
old Federal Hall. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



In the centuries gone by a king was on his 
throne, surrounded by all the richness and splen- 
dor of an oriental monarch. He called to him 
his most noble prince and said to him: "What 
shall be done unto the man whom the king de- 
lighteth to honor?" The prince replied: "For 
the man whom the king delighteth to honor, let 
the royal apparel be brought which the king 
useth to wear, and the horse that the king 
rideth upon, and the croAvn royal which is set 
upon his head; and let the apparel and the horse 
be delivered to the hand of one of the king's 
most noble princes, that they may array the man 
withal whom the king delighteth to honor!" 

Then the king said to the prince: "Make haste, 
and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast 
said, and even so do to Mordecai the Jew, that 
sitteth at the king's gate : let nothing fail of 
all that thou hast spoken." 

What Ahasuerus did for Mordecai, the Jew, who 
had interposed to save the king's life, that, a hun- 
dred years ago and more, the new born nation in 
America did for Washington, who had led her 
armies to victory in the great struggle for inde- 
7 



pendence. Called forth by the unanimous voice 
of the nation, he left his quiet home at Mount 
Vernon for Ncav York, the seat of the Federal 
Congress. 

His journey was almost one continuous tri- 
umphal procession; and on the thirt^e^th day of 
April, seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, amid ex- 
ultant crowds, on the balcony of old Federal Hall, 
in Wall street. New York, he took the oath of of- 
fice and the nation was pleased to honor him with 
a crown more honorable than that of the Persian 
king, or the laurel wreath of the ancient Greek, 
and richer by far than the diamond studded 
crown of the most honored and exalted nation of 
modern Europe. "No hero of ancient Rome," i 
says a modern writer, "who, having borne her: 
eagles to victory, returned with her veteran le- 
gions to be crowned with laurel by the Senate, 
ever led up a triumph to the temple of *Capi- 
tolian Jove' as grand as that of Washington dur- 
ing his progress to the seat of government." 
There, having been elected as the only man per- 
haps that could have united the different states 
under constitutional government as they were, 
he was inaugurated the first President of the in- 
fant nation, which was destined to play so im- 
portant a part in the coming affairs of the 
world. 

The year after his inauguration, and ever since, 
the anniversary of his birth has been recognized as 
a national holiday; and everywhere to-day the na- 
tion and the world delights to honor the man — 



"First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts 
of his countrymen." And wherever the English 
language is spoken the name of Washington has 
become a household charm; and amid all the pos- 
sibilities of the future of our country, I am per- 
suaded that no one will arise to surpass our 
Washington. 

Underestimate of flen. 

In our study of Washington and his character, 
a serious error in the estimate of men should be 
avoided, an error sometimes so near the truth 
that the danger is all the more increased, and the 
injustice done to such men and their work be- 
comes the more serious. I refer to the under- 
estimate of men who have shaped the affairs of 
society, of nations and of the world in times un- 
like our own. 

Some years ago I was in conversation with a 
friend in Virginia. He was a man of position 
and of official standing. I was on my way to 
Mount Vernon, and chanced to express my vener- 
ation for and appreciation of Washington and 
others of the fathers and heroes of the Revolution. 
"These men," said he, "were considered great in 
their day, but they would not be so considered 
now. Really they were not strong men. To-day 
they would be looked upon as very ordinary men." 

I was but a boy then, but the blood of a Revo- 
lutionary ancestry almost curdled in my v[§ns. 
The thought appeared to me to be un-American. 
It seemed, somehow, inconsistent with the found- 

9 



ing and continued existence and the growing 
power of this the greatest of the nations. A 
halo of heavenly glory, in my thought, was 
wreathed around these men which somehow I 
could not away with. I could not understand 
how an inferior gem could be polished, and grow 
in beauty and in appreciated worth, when looked 
upon from every side, and by the steady gaze of 
the students of history, and withal win the grow- 
ing admiration of the world's best critics. Is 
th~e years have gone by I have weighed the state- 
ment again and again and can understand it 
only as a distorted view of the past and the pres- 
ent, and consequently utterly false. THERE 
WERE GIANTS IN THOSE DAYS. 

The century of Washington was the century 
of Wesley and Edwards and Whitfield and How- 
ard, of Talleyrand and Hastings and Pitt and 
Burke and Turgot and Fox, of Clive and Joseph 
the Second of Hungary and Frederick the Great 
and Marleborough; Napoleon too had become first 
Consul of France before the close of the century, 
while Erskine and Brougham and others were 
well advanced in their ascendency. The worth and 
greatness of our fathers, however, did not suffer 
in comparison with these great men. The most 
noted and worthy of these even have brought 
their tributes of honor for Washington and his 
colleagues as unsurpassed in greatness of char- 
acter and in achievements wrought. There have 
been no more honored names, no stronger, no 
greater men in the history of the world than 
10 



these men whose hearts pulsated with the thought, 
the touch, the taste of liberty. Men who con- 
ceived the establishment of this Republic, men 
who placed their lives in the balances of liberty 
and upon the altar of sacrifice, men who dared 
and suffered and fought for our institutions. 

A Conventional and False Washington. 

In this survey, again, it is fitting for us to 
face the charge that a conventional and false 
Washington has been portrayed and held up be- 
fore the nation and the world; that Washington 
was falsely known in his own day and is no 
better known now; and truly known, he would 
never have been revered as he has been. 

Prejudiced investigation, superficial knowledge 
or observation, vulgar thoughts, impure lives, one 
or more, have, without doubt, been the back- 
ground of such accusations. Good men, too, some- 
times fail to see the true measure and real char- 
acter of those who live or have lived amid other 
conditions and surroundings than their own. 
Well meaning men sometimes appear incapable 
of judging men aright, or appreciating their 
worth from what they do, or the influence they 
exert upon society, the nation, or the world. Su- 
perficial minds are apt to judge others by their 
own standards, or from their own point of view. 
There are men, too, who seem never quite so con- 
tent and happy, as when revelling in filth, and 
in seeking to drag others down to their own level. 
11 



Thomas Paine, (1) who lived, in his later days 
especially, in a different moral atmosphere, was 
among the early defamers of Washington, and 
stands perhaps among the leaders of that class 
of narrow egotists who have sought to vilify the 
name and character of Washington. It is true 
also that men, too dull and sluggish to under- 
stand true greatness, eminent ability and genu- 
ine character, may, and do, at times, accept the 
calumnies and base forgeries of intriguing, jeal- 
ous, self-seeking, little men, that attempt to throw 
discredit upon genuine worth and merit. 

Out of reach of such men and above such as- 
persions the great Washington rose like a gallant 
ship on the crest of the advancing wave. He 
nobly weathered the fearful blasts and the dark 
and trying storms of his times, and in the mem- 
ory of an appreciative people and a grateful nation 
rides majestically forward on the tide of his- 



(1) Thos. Paine was not an educated man, but 
had brilliant talents as a writer. His earlier life 
was promising. His domestic relations became check- 
ered. He embraced the French socialistic idea of 
Rosseau. He came from England to America in 1774. 
He entered with enthusiasm the cause of American 
independence. His writings in this behalf were terse 
and effective. His political tractates, "Common 
Sense" and the "Crisis," were powers in the cause of 
our Revolution. He went to France and by a mere 
accident escaped the guillotine, another's cell instead 
of his being marked by mistake ; he was finally lib- 
erated through the influence of Monroe. His Deistical 
work, "Age of Reason," met with disfavor both in 
Europe and in America. He became intemperate and 
more and more dissolute. He joined in outbursts of 
bitterness against Washington. He died in America 
in the early part of the century, in disrepute. 

12 



tory^ wafted onward by the praise and admiration 
and gladsome verdict of the entire world. 

Hero=Worship. 

In our study of Washington another danger 
confronts us — a danger which the most ardent 
admirer of Washington must recognize. People 
of all ages have been addicted to hero-worship; 
and we should not forget that the tendency of the 
world to-day is to deify its great men. A few 
generations are usually sufficient to present a 
people's heroes as faultless in character, and 
stripped almost entirely of the defects and frail- 
ties of humanity. So true indeed is this to his- 
tory, that we find it somewhat difficult, with a 
hundred years and more between us and Washing- 
ton, to look upon him as one of ourselves, pos- 
sessed of the common frailties and faulty actions 
of humanity. We should avoid possible injus- 
tice to ourselves, to the present and to the com- 
ing generations, of presenting this great man as 
occupying a plane of life so far above us as to 
be faultless and to be seen only in the reflection of 
the Divine; blighting, thus, the hopes and aspir- 
ations of noble souls for true greatness. The 
fact is Washington was neither more nor less than 
a man. And only as we look upon him as one 
of ourselves, surrounded by temptations and pos- 
sessed of the common frailties and dispositions 
of humanity, can we fully understand and ap- 
preciate his greatness and the nobility of his 
character. When we study, with careful scrutiny, 

13 



his life as seen from the background of human 
characteristics and. minor defects which belong to 
ourselves, together with the imperfect surround- 
ings and erroneous ideas incident to the eigh- 
teenth century, his unswerving integrity, his de- 
votion to principle and his other noble qualities 
and manly traits appear all the more attractive 
and noble; and especially so, as we see these 
natural tendencies and environments surmounted 
and outgrown, and trace his progress, in habits 
and in ideals, to loftier standards. 

Environments and Influence. 

We should bear in mind that Virginia, when 
Washington was born, was not the Virginia of 
our day. It was a colony and sparsely settled. 
The country was new and largely wooded. There 
was but little travel except on foot, on horseback 
and on the rivers and other waterways. African 
slaves and the poor indentured whites were the 
substratum of society; while the lordly planters, 
the royal officials and the settled and ofttimes 
riotous clergy were the aristocracy, the ruling 
class. Religion, learning, mental and moral devel- 
opement were too often secondary to politics, lux- 
ury and society amusements. 

Gambling and profanity were common; intem- 
perance was well nigh universal. Lottery, gam- 
ing, theater-going and horse-racing were the com- 
mon practice of the upper classes of society in 
those days. The lottery, now looked upon as a 
cunning form of gambling and prohibited by law, 
14 



was then a special favorite, and was often used 
as a means of charity, for the church and for 
public improvements; — so a hundred years from 
now the popular gambling of our day in margins, 
in stock exchange and boards of trade, will, no 
doubt, have been remanded to the past. Wash- 
ington's parents were of the leaser gentry and 
smaller planters. Such were the conditions and 
surroundings amid which, in the early part of the 
eighteenth century, Washington was born. 

It would have been marvelous indeed had Wash- 
ington, with his passionate character and common 
human nature, refrained entirely, in early life, 
from the local tendencies and customs of the age, 
together with the views and habits of those he 
loved and to whom he had a right to look as 
worthy exemplars, and especially as these things 
were looked upon by the people at large as proper 
and unobjectionable. We are warranted to be- 
lieve that, in his early life, he did not refrain, 
entirely, from these tendencies, customs and hab- 
its. (2) Nothing, I am sure, is to be gained by 
claiming otherwise. Horace, in one of his epis- 
tles, speaks of the necessity of a poet preserving 
unity and just relations between the different 
parts of his work; and the lack of it he compares 
to a painter who produces a work "So that a 

(2) "Accepting, anhesitatingly, the amusements, 
habits and views of those whom he loved best as a 
child, he discloses the innate strength of his individ- 
uality in that he fell into no sloughs of despond, but 
that in years of discretion all his tendencies were 
away from his age and towards higher ideals of 
thought and action." — Greeley. 

15 



beauteous woman above may foully terminate in 
a loathsome fish." Somewhat akin to this ap- 
pears the effort to model after our own times and 
ideals, the customs and habits of a hundred and 
fifty years ago; and these too in a wild and 
sparsely settled colony, together with the sur- 
roundings and conditions of those times. Wash- 
ington, himself, did not claim to be without faults 
or foibles, (3) and we do not claim it for him. It 
is our aim to draw a true, accurate and real 
picture, not an ideal portraiture of perfection. 
There is but one perfect ideal of humanity, un- 
affected by birth, time, place and environments, 
in all history. This One is the spotless Lamb 
of God. Faults and imperfections, actual or rela- 
tive, should be allowed their proper place and 
just value, but not to overshadow and minify the 
magnificent powers to which they are but inci- 
dental. Says an eminent writer: "The sun has 



(3) "In 1757, when twenty years of age, he wrote 
to Gov. Dinwiddle : 'That I have foibles and many 
of them I shall not deny ; I should esteem myself as 
others would, vain and empty, were I to arrogate to 
myself perfection.' When informed that anonymous 
accusations against him had been sent to the Presi- 
dent of Congress, he wrote privately to beg that the 
paper might at once be submitted to the body to 
which it was addressed, adding these frank and noble 
words : 'Why should I be exempt from censure, the 
unfailing lot of an elevated station? Merit and talent 
which I cannot pretend to rival have ever been sub- 
ject to it. My heart tells me it has been my unre- 
mitted aim to do the best which circumstances would 
permit ; yet I may have been often mistaken in my 
judgment of means, and may in many instances de- 
serve the imputation of error.' He disclaimed for 
himself what all the world unites in attributing to 
him." — Wintlirop. 

16 



its spots. Those whose tastes lead them to look 
at these through magnifying glasses, must allow 
us the liberty of rather rejoicing in the light- 
and w^armth and bliss which bathes all nature." 

Physical and Social Characteristics. 

Fortunately we are not dependent upon ima- 
gination concerning Washington's physical per- 
sonality. Contemporary sketches furnish satis- 
factory data. Because of his high and honor- 
able position in early manhood, no doubt, what 
mi^ht be considered physical defects are usually 
omitted or toned down^, both in portraits and 
pen pictures. His defective and false teeth, "the 
disfiguring facial marks from smallpox," which 
he bore from boyhood to his death, may be cited 
as instances. He had a magnificent physical 
form. "His person," says Jefferson, "was fine, 
his structure exactly what one would wish." He 
was possessed of great physical strength and per- 
sonal endurance. In his prime he was six feet 
two inches or more in height. He was erect, 
squarely built and weighed from two hundred and 
ten to two hundred and tw^enty pounds. His col- 
loquial talents and fluency of speech were not 
marked except in conversation with intimate 
friends. He w^as noble in deportment, agreeable 
in speech, self-contained and thoughtful in coun- 
tenance, reserved and dignified in bearing. In 
personnel he was impressive and attractive, com- 
bining ease, strength and grace. Hiram Powers, 
17 



the American sculptor, once said of him: "He had 
the look and figure of a hero." (4) (5) 

He was an athlete of rare proficiency, as evi- 
denced by his jump for a bride, whom having 
won he turned over to the man she loved; the 
casting of stones, up the face of the Natural 
bridge, over the Palisades into the Hudson, across 
the Rappahannock; wrestling matches, casting of 
heavy iron bars, and such like feats where others 
utterly failed. He was an expert horseman, the 
best, according to Jefferson, of his age, "and 
the most graceful figure that could be seen on 
horseback." He was very fond of the chase; fox 
hunting in particular appears to have been his 
favorite sport. He indulged in following the 
hounds until nearly sixty years of age. Next to 



(4) "His skin was clear and colorless; the nose 
straight ; the face long, with high round cheek-bones ; 
the blue-gray and widely separated eyes shadowed by 
heavy brows : a large mobile mouth, showing teeth 
somewhat defective ; the muscular arms and legs un- 
usually long, and a well-shaped head, gracefully 
poised on a superb neck. The dark brown hair was 
worn in a cue, and the small waist well set off by 
neatly fitting garb."^ — George Mercer, friend of ^Yash- 
ington. 

(5) "In person Washington was unique, he looked 
like no one else. To a stature lofty and command- 
ing, he united a form of the manliest proportions, his 
limbs cast in Nature's finest mould, and a carriage 
most dignified, graceful and imposing. * * * An 
officer of the Life Guard has been often heard to ob- 
serve that the Commander-in-Chief was thought to be 
the strongest man in the army. * * * His great 
physical powers were in his limbs : they were long, 
large and sinewy. His frame was of equal breadth 
from the shoulders to the hips. * * * j^ showed 
an extraordinary development of bone and muscle ; 
his joints were large, as were his feet ; and could a 

18 



this, horse racing and the theater appear to have 
been his favorite amusements. As a particular 
test of the moral character and manhood of a 
man there is perhaps none better that his atti- 
tude toward and treatment of women who came 
in touch with his life. In this respect we are 
assured that there is nothing in the letters or 
writings of Washington which does not accord 
with uprightness, and which does not attribute 
to woman the highest possible honor and praise. 
There appears to be no trace of a word or ex- 
pressed thought in his writings or correspondence 
that could bring a blush to a woman's face. It 
is claimed that though his studies, while in 
school, were never interrupted by boyish games, 
his choice of girl companions is known. As he 
advanced from tender years he was not a re- 
cluse. Though naturally diffident and quiet, he 
moved in the best society of his day; and more 
than once his heart was captured by ladies of the 
best Virginia type; and at last he captured "the 
wealthiest as well as one of the most attractive 
women in the colonies." 



cast have been preserved of his hand, to be exhibited 
in these degenerate days, it would be said to belong 
to the being of a fabulous age. * * * His chest, 
though broad and expansive, was not prominent, but 
rather hollowed in the center. * * * with all its 
development of muscular power, the form of Wash- 
ington had no appearance of bulkiness, and so har- 
monious were its proportions, that he did not appear 
so passing tall as his portraits have represented. 
* * * In the various exhibitions of his great 
physical powers they were apparently attended by 
scarcely any effort." — Recollections, G. W. P. Custis. 

19 



Mental Temperament. 

Washington inherited a high and irritable tem- 
per, which, on rare occasions, flashed forth like 
lightning from the gathering storm-cloud. By 
divine help and severe self-discipline, however, he 
had so learned to subdue it, and to keep it under 
control of a calm and cool judgment, that except 
in a few instances when surprised by the treason, 
cowardice or misconduct of those on whom he 
had relied, or gross misrepresentation touching 
his own motives of integrity, one might have 
thought he was born with the sweetest and most 
quiet of dispositions. Green, the English his- 
torian, speaking on this line, has said: "His 
silence and the serene calmness of his temper 
spoke of perfect self-mastery." Jefferson says: 
"His temper was naturally irritable and high- 
toned, but reflection and resolution had attained 
a firm and habitual ascendency over it." And he 
adds, "If ever, however, it broke its bounds, he 
was most tremendous in his wrath." A few in- 
stances of the momentary outburst of passion, in 
his riper years, transient as terrible, it ap- 
pears, are on record — as when Lee proved the 
traitor at Monmouth, and when political and 
scandalous libels were circulated, impugning his 
motives and representing him as seeking the place 
and crown of a king. It is no disparagement to 
Washington that he had strong natural passions. 
Self conquest is commendable and glorious in 
prop^ortion to the inherent power controlled. A 
20 



violent temper controlled proves the greatness of 
the ruling virtue, and is evidence conclusive of a 
strong and worthy character. 

Intemperance. 

On visiting Mount Vernon, some years ago, at- 
tention was drawn, in a novel and ingenious way, 
to the fact that Washington, in the earlier days 
at the Mansion, was not altogether averse to the 
use of some of the milder liquors of those days. 
Subsequent investigation and study of his life, 
character and environments have not only con- 
firmed what was then inferred, but have shown 
his real attitude toward the vital question of in- 
temperance. In his twenties, after having been 
elected to the House of Burgesses, he did not 
scruple to furnish the voters who made him a 
member, cider and rum and small beer and porter. 
That guests at the Mansion, especially in the 
earlier years, were often served with wine, and 
that he himself, after dinner, sometimes took his 
glass of porter or Madeira, there can be no ques- 
tion. Upon reflection it would have been passing 
strange had it been otherwise; for in this he al- 
lowed what was practically universal at the time. 
That he did not take the stronger drinks was not 
because Virginia customs did not warrant it, or 
that the English in the South thought it beneath 
their dignity even in those days to get drunk. 
Here, however, it should be noted that Washing- 1 
ton's inherent greatness and strength of char-i 
acter are shown in personal restraint, and in dis- 
21 



regarding his environments, rising above the ten- 
dencies of his age, to higher and nobler planes 
of thought and action. He looked upon intemper- 
ance as a serious evil; and in the Provincial 
army, while in command of the Virginia troops, 
he forbade it by stringent orders, accompanied 
with severe punishment in ease of violation. (6) 
As Commander-in-Chief of the American army, 
he was even more stringent and exacting. "Gin 
shops," he said, "serve to ruin the proprietors 
and those who make the most frequent applica- 
tion to them." In a letter to his nephew, Bush- 
rod Washington, in January, 1783, he wrote: 
"Refrain from drink, which is the source of all 
evil and the ruin of half the workmen of this 
country." In a letter written during the fourth 
year of the war, John Bell, of Maryland, says of 
Washington himself: "He was never known to 
exceed the bounds of the most rigid temperance." 

Gambling, Dueling, &c. 

Washington looked upon gambling, profanity, 
duelling and Sabbath desecration with abhor- 
rence. He not only shunned these practices him- 
self, but openly avowed his opposition to the 
evils, and urged others to refrain from the same. 
In his army, his official, his private and domes- 
tic life, he was strict in the observance of the 
Sabbath and religious duties generally. ( 7 ) . Duel- 

(6) Any soldier found drunk shall receive one hun- 
dred lashes, without benefit of a court-martial. — See 
Army Orders. 

(7) See Army Orders. 

22 



ling was popular those days. To challenge an- 
other, or to accept the same from another, in 
case of personal offence or fancied injury, was 
then considered the part of human dignity, and to 
refuse was looked upon as dishonorable. No 
matter what might be the provocation, Washing- 
ton never challenged or accepted a challenge for 
a duel, and earnestly dissuaded others from the 
practice. Profanity and gambling were de- 
nounced in the strongest terms, and his official 
orders prohibiting the same while in command 
of the Virginia trops and of the American army 
were most stringent, and penalties for violation of 
the same severe. (8) In the letter above referred 
to, to his nephew Bushrod Washington, he writes: 
"Avoid gaming. This is a vice productive of every 
possible evil, etc." (9) 

Slavery. 

Washington was born and grew up with slav- 
ery as an inherited institution throughout the 
colonies; and yet his moral sense, and his fore- 
sight as a statesman, repudiated it. He had 
slaves, but they came to him by inheritance. He 
early determined that he would neither buy nor 
sell a slave. While in the army he gave direc- 
tion that his slaves should not receive corporeal 
punishment. His will provided that all his slaves 

(8) See Army Orders. 

(9) It is very evident that Washington did not 
include, in the idea of gambling, lottery, which in 
those days was generally looked upon as harmless, 
though now regarded as one of the most insidious 
forms of gambling. 

23 



should be free at the death of Mrs. Washington, 
should she outlive him, and that land be set 
aside for the needy, a provision which was carried 
into effect one year after his death. In conver- 
sation with Mr. Bernard, at Mount Vernon, some 
months before his death, he said: "Slavery was 
bequeathed to us by Europeans, and time alone 
can change it; an event, sir, you may believe 
me, no man desires more than I do. Not only do 
I pray for it on the score of human dignity, but 
I can already foresee that nothing but the root- 
ing out of slavery can perpetuate the existence of 
the Union, by consolidating it into a common 
bond of principle." (10) 

"The widow Washington's son," as the youth- 
ful George was called, had the advantage of 



(10) The leading citizens in Virginia at this time 
as Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Mason, were with 
Washington in this matter of slavery, in fact the 
state as such was in favor of emancipation. Vir- 
ginia had not at this time become the breeding place 
for the more southern slave market. There was a 
bitter contest in the Constitutional Convention 
against slavery. Two of the rice producing states — 
South Carolina and Georgia— contended for it not on 
moral grounds, but for utilitarian ends. To save the 
Union, compromise on the part of the other states 
seemed necessary. George Mason expressed the gen- 
eral feeling of the convention. He called it "This 
infernal traffic," and adds : "Slavery discourages arts 
and manufactures. The poor despise labor when per- 
formed by slaves. They prevent the immigration of 
whites who really strengthen and enrich a country. 
They produce the most pernicious effects on manners. 
Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They 
bring the judgment of heaven upon a country. As 
nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next 
world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain 
of causes and effects Providence punishes national 
sins by national calamities." 

24 



a country life, with its untainted society, contact 
with nature, pure air, open sky, mountain scenery, 
primeval forests, flowing streams, physical exer- 
cise and time to read and think. 

riental and iloral Attainments. 

He was not a philosopher, or a man of great 
learning, as the world to-day regards these; and 
yet he was not a back-woods phenomenon. For 
years he was under the tutorship of a private 
teacher on his father's plantation; and for years 
after his father's death he was placed in school 
under an accomplished scholar and thorough 
teacher, under whom he completed his academic 
course; and later he took a degree, at the age 
of seventeen, in surveying, at Williams and 
Mary's. Of this college he was made chancellor in 
1788, which position he held until his death. (11) 
It must be frankly admitted, however, that he 
was better acquainted with men and things than 
with books — an acquirement considered most de- 
sirable for a Virginia gentleman. His brother 
Lawrence, who was greatly devoted to him, and 
who gave to him the Mount Vernon estate, had 
his training at Oxford, and was a man of ac- 
complishments, influence and sterling character. 
Lord Fairfax, a man who would have done honor 

(11) Washington is sometimes pointed to as an 
illiterate provincial as evidenced by incorrect spell- 
ing, according to our standards. It is well to re- 
member that English gentlemen of those days took 
more liberties in spelling than is allowable for us 
with Worcester and Webster and other authorities 
at our command. — (See also appendix, E. W. Chafin.) 

25 



to Oxford or Cambridge in those days, and at 
whose home he was a frequent visitor, was his 
friend, and proved an effectual helper, guide and 
tutor. Add to these his own native capabilities 
and personal inclinations to self-instruction, and 
we find a young man when twenty-one, of no 
mean mental acquirements. His letters to Con- 
gress, his farewell addresses to his officers and 
to Congress and other papers show him to 
have been a far-sighted man and an excellent 
writer." (12) 

He was trained, too, for his noble manhood, 
marvelous career and exalted position, in that 
best of all schools, a virtuous Christian home. 
His father and mother were members of the 
church and were careful in the details of a 
Christian life. His mother's ancestry were of the 
sturdy Covenanters. His father's of the pure 
Anglo-Saxon line; and, in the early centuries, of 
the titled class. They were warriors too. Five 
hundred years before the Revolution, William 

(12) We find statements sometimes to the effect 
that Hamilton had much to do about writing Wash- 
ington's addresses, especially his farewell address to 
the American people. In 1811 Prof. McVickar of Co- 
lumbia College raised this question. A copy of Wash- 
ington's farewell address was discovered in the hand- 
writing of Hamilton. Prof. McVickar questioned 
Chief Justice Jay concerning it, and the matter was 
settled by Jay's statement that the address had been 
submitted to Hamilton and himself for suggestions 
and amendments, and not wishing to spoil Washing- 
ton's fair manuscript their notes were made on a 
copy written by Hamilton. "My opinion," added Jay, 
"my dear sir, you shall freely have. I have always 
thought General Washington competent to write his 
own addresses." — {To Judge Peters — See John Jay, 
p. 359.) 

26 



Washington fought as a knight under Henry III; 
and John, the grandsire of our country's hero, 
fought at Naseby against the Lord Protector 
Cromwell. Morning and evening the entire house- 
hold was called together for family prayers. 
From his earliest years he had impressed upon 
his heart, by one of the noblest of Christian moth- 
ers, the importance of religion, the necessity of 
prayer and of divine guidance in the prosperity 
and trials of human life. At the home altar and 
at his mother's knee, he learned to dp his duty 
and leave the consequences with God — a lesson 
which became the rule of his life. His exalted 
sense of right and truth and justice, was greater 
than the social and moral standards of the times, 
and of the society and circles in which he moved. 
He refrained from much that seemed to others 
right and proper. He would not do or tolerate 
a mean or ignoble act. In his peremptorially re- 
signing the command of the Provincial troops, 
when lorded over by British rule, his independence 
and sense of right and justice are clearly seen. 

At fourteen he had received a warrant as mid- 
shipman in the British navy; at sixteen he en- 
tered upon his duties as public surveyor. Here 
he was thorough and exact and did some of the 
best work on record. At nineteen he became Major 
and Adjutant, at twenty Lieutenant-Colonel; the 
same year he was promoted to the command of 
the regiment as Colonel. At twenty-four he was 
one of the best known men in the colonies — popu- 
lar, trusted and unsullied in character. At twen- 
27 



ty-seven he was married and settled down on his 
estate at Mount Vernon in domestic peace and 
happiness, the wealthiest man in Virginia; and 
for fifteen years thereafter he was a leading and 
influential member of the House of Burgesses. 
The innate qualities which made him great were 
all in the boy, the student, the young surveyor, 
the Indian fighter; the times and exigencies of 
the country were to develop and call them out. 
In speaking of her son, after his election to the 
Presidency, his mother said: "I am not sur- 
prised at what George has done, for he was al- 
ways a good boy." When he took his seat as a 
member of the House of Burgesses, the House had 
ordered a vote of thanks for his distinguished 
military services to the colony. Mr. Robinson, 
the speaker, tendered to him the thanks as or- 
dered. Washington arose to reply, trembled, 
blushed and in his embarrassment could not speak. 
Mr. Robinson, seeing this, said to him pleasantly: 
Mr. Washington, sit down. Your modesty equals 
your valor, and that surpasses the power of any 
language I can command." On the floor of the 
Continental Congress, Patrick Henry said of him: 
"If you speak of solid information and sound 
judgment, Colonel Washington is undoubtedly the 
greatest man on the floor." 

The Crisis and the flan. 

A mighty crisis in the history of the world is 
nearing — an Everest peak of elevation which the 
world has been approaching for ages past, and up 

28 



I <( 




!. oX DECLAKATIOX OV IXDEPENDEXCE 
jn<EPARIXG THE DOCUMEXT. 



which for a hundred and fifty years, the colonists 
had been climbing, but which was hidden from 
mortal view by clouds of strife and overhanging 
dangers. Wise men and statesmen could trace 
the zigzag path a ways, but God alone could see 
above the clouds, and look out upon the Elysian 
plains towards which the world was tending. 
Patrick Henry said: "Put a fort on the Missis- 
sippi and the St. Lawrence, and you own the 
continent." Later Jeflferson wrote to George Roger 
Clark: "Complete the fort on the Mississippi 
river ^vhich Governor Henry ordered you to build, 
for Ave shall soon have to meet the question of 
cession of the country west of the Alleghanies, 
and the experiment we are about to make can 
only be successful by owning the western country." 
Washington going over the Blue Ridge and down 
the Shenandoah Valley and wending his way 
through the primeval forests, and later project- 
ing the canal which was to join the great water- 
ways of the west and east, and which proved to be 
the entering wedge of the final union of the col- 
onies, saw a country reaching out its arms be- 
yond that narrow fringe of land and the feeble 
colonies bordering on the Atlantic, and limited 
by the Alleghanies; — he saw the western land; 
owned by France and Spain and England, and; 
realized that this was the future America. But 
these wise men could not fully comprehend the 
meaning of the western world. God saw as no 
man could see the rich mines and granaries of 
wealth which he had been filling and preserving 
29 



for future use. He saw the unbroken forests, the 
broad plains and virgin prairies, the wonderful 
water-ways of commerce — the very Eden of the 
world — the land kissed by the tides of two great 
oceans. God saw above the clouds and beyond 
the mists, as the wisest statesman could not see, 
and he planned for the future home of liberty. 

At this great crisis and this eventful time, God 
wanted a masterful mind — a peerless man to do 
his bidding, and to lead the way to victory. He 
wanted a man when the hour should come, who 
had impressed his personality upon the country, 
and who would draw to himself the respect, the 
confidence and the love of the people; one who 
would live himself into the hearts of the soldiers 
and the country he was to save, who would gain 
the love and admiration of the world, and im- 
press himself upon coming generations as second 
to none among the world's great leaders. He 
must needs be a man of heroic endurance, of ir- 
reproachable character, singleness of purpose, 
fearless and vigilant — a true and loyal servant 
of liberty; one who could endure sufferings and 
calumnies and impugning of motives when his 
country required it. A man of positive virtue 
with high moral courage and with a firm, unfal- 
tering trust in, and reverence for. God. A man 
with characteristics and abilities so grand and 
genuine as not to disappoint those who should 
trust him. 

God wanted a masterful strategist; a thorough, 
careful, determined, dauntless leader. A Fabius 

30 



in caution, a Hannibal in prudence, a Scipio in 
persistence, a Cincinnatus in devotion, a Leonidus 
in courage; in fortitude, under reverses, a more 
than Cato; in self-restraint, under calumny and 
the intrigues of demagogues, a greater than Ceas- 
ar. A leader like ]\Iarlborough, but not for fame 
or money; a strategist like Napoleon, but incap- 
able of being seduced by the lust of power. He 
wanted a man confident amid tory sentiments, 
warring factions and faltering friends of liberty; 
who could bear with and hold together his army, 
against the failures of Congress to supply with 
food, clothing and ammunition the starving, freez- 
ing soldiers; one, too, who would patiently en- 
dure the falsehoods, slanders and treacherous 
dealings of incompetent officials, ambitious ad- 
venturers and jealous human defamers; a leader 
who could hold in check a well nigh mutinous 
army, that through years of dreadful suffering 
and wonderful fortitude, had achieved victory for 
their struggling country, though driven to desper- 
ation by the heartless intrigues of Congress; a 
leader, too, who when profi^ered a crown from 
these valorous and trusted soldiers, would refuse 
it with indignation, and burning tears of pa- 
triotism; a Commander-in-Chief who was sure 
to be tested and to meet with discouragements 
on every hand, but whose courage and invincible 
patriotism would fringe impending failures and 
threatening dangers and defeat, with the silver 
line of victory. 

Farther, God wanted a man whose military suc- 
31 



cess and statesmanship and force of character 
would lead up to that still greater triumph, the 
establishment of the Republic under a constitu- 
tional government. He wanted a man who would 
rise above himself and take counsel of the King 
of Kings. He Avanted a composite, a well rounded 
man, permeated with moral goodness; — not a man 
wonderfully brilliant in one faculty and painfully 
deficient in others, but unique and symmetrical, 
a harmonious development and marvelous equipose 
of all his powers and qualities, and great at every 
point. A man proportionate to the greatness of 
his work, who could measure up against the 
great events in which he was to figure, and move 
with ease among the greatest statesmen of the 
world, and who was to stand as the synonym of 
freedom and equal rights in all ages to come. A 
human Kohinoor to be ground and polished, re- 
flecting worth and beauty from its different face^, 
points and angles — a gem of priceless value, a 
thing of beauty, and a work divine, to be set as 
the gem of gems in the fadeless crown of human 
liberty. 

God plans and works and waits patiently the 
movements of human progress. The time is at 
hand; He sees. He selects, He guards the gem 
destined to ornament the nation and the world. 
It is in the rough and God alone can understand 
its value. The master-mind is found, dormant and 
unconscious, however, of the marvelous future. 
God places His hand upon the child and leads 
him in ways best fitted for his future work. The 
32 



supreme moment comes. The modest, unassuming, 
tranquil, firm, dignified, far-seeing man is called 
to lead the armies of the formative nation. He 
wins in the long and dreadful conflict. The vic- 
tory of '83 is crowned with still greater victories 
of '87 and '89 — victories which called the colo- 
nies together and established our civil govern- 
ment. The victor, by the prestige of his name and 
work and influence, more than any other means, 
probably secured the union of the Colonies, es- 
tablished constitutional liberty, founds the Re- 
public and becomes its first ruler by the unani- 
mous vote of his countrymen. 

That masterful mind which God wanted was the 
country lad, the widow's son, the young athlete, 
the peerless horseman, the youthful lover, the 
young surveyor, the Provincial colonel, the weal- 
thy planter, the Commander-in-Chief of the Amer- 
ican army, the victor at Yorktown, the peerless 
patriot, the founder of the Republic, the first 
President of the nation, the great American at 
whose death a sorrowing nation of freemen is in 
tears; on whose career and character and life 
has fallen an after-glow, unclouded, brilliant and 
beautiful; who stands and must ever stand first 
on the stage of history, in the alliance of private 
virtue, moral grandeur, the talents of a general 
and the qualities of a statesman; who appears as 
a beacon at the opening of our country's history, 
and lighting the pathway of our national life, 
and an inspiration of American citizenship. The 
man loved and venerated, and looked upon by all 

33 



classes in his day as the synonym of freedom and 
of the life and perpetuity of the nation, OUR 
IMMORTAL WASHINGTON. 

Were we called upon to give evidence of these 
designs, as suggested, and of the character of the 
man selected to lead in the bloody conflict for lib- 
erty and independence, and to direct in the peer- 
less enterprise for the establishment of a nation, 
we should point to our country, which to-day 
stands supreme among the nations, and whose 
ever brightening glory reflects the heroism, the 
foresight, the integrity of the man, who, as Ban- 
croft asserts, "Was the nation's architect, and 
without whom the nation could not have achieved 
its independence, could not have formed its union, 
could not have put the Federal government into 
operation." 

In the life-time of Washington there were, as 
there always are, men of unholy ambitions, party 
ideas and party jealousies to encounter; but in 
his presence these shrank back in silence and oft- 
times in shame. "His opinions," says a worthy 
cotemporary, "became the opinions of the public 
body. Every man was pleased with himself when 
he found that he thought like Washington." 
As is always the case touching real worth and 
true merit, there were those who failed to com- 
prehend him and his work, and failing thus, carped 
at his acts, his life, his thoughts. These sooner 
or later were shamed into silence. The appre- 
ciation has been advancing side by side with 
American progress. A great chorus of the great 
34 



— citizens, patriots, soldiers, statesmen of his own 
and succeeding generations — trace his thoughts, 
his life, his outward actions, and sound forth his 
praise as "Second to none of the master minds 
of the human race," and declare with emphasis, 
that, "In the annals of modern greatness he' 
stands alone; and the noblest names of antiquity- 
lose their luster in his presence." 

One of the marvels of history is the universal 
popularity accorded to Washington in his priv- 
ate and public life, and the confidence and esteem 
in which he was held by cotemporaries of all 
classes and of different nations; loved and idol- 
ized by the people at large, respected by his 
enemies and revered by succeeding generations. 
The surge of events and the marvelous his- 
tory of a hundred years and more serve to 
broaden and to enhance the glory of this great 
man. Historic clearness seems friendly to his 
exaltation. His life and character will bear, 
without detriment, the most thorough examination 
and the closest scrutiny, in the light of facts. 
During his active life, private and public, beyond 
almost any other, he was regarded by those near- 
est to him, and who knew him best, "With a 
reverence that often approached to a kind of wor- 
ship." With the opening and broadening light of 
history falling upon the work he did and upon 
his private and personal and public life, his name 
and character are becoming more and more the 
objects of patriotic devotion. 
35 



An Outline Picture. 

A picture of marvelous import is here impressed 
upon our thoughts. The aims of God as con- 
cerned this western land of ours, and well sus- 
tained by developed truths, and facts of history, 
together with the cardinal characteristics of the 
man selected to carry out His purpose, form the 
contour of the picture. This impress upon our 
thoughts may not suffer because some traits and 
characteristics, seen in outline, reappear, clothed 
in the acutal facts of history. This may instead, 
clothe that which might appear ideal with real 
intensive life, as such it was. This picture is 
many sided and widely different views are thrown 
into perspective. Dark scenes, with threatening 
blackness, like the darkest clouds of nights as 
seen by the darting lightning which reveals the 
fury of the storm. Others like the beauteous 
concave of the heavens, studded with myriad 
gems of light and touched betimes with the shoot- 
ing, trembling beauty of the northern lights; oth- 
ers like the full-orbed sun which drives from the 
sky the scattering clouds, and floods the earth 
-with June-day beauty, with shades and shadows 
and golden glory which no artist's brush can re- 
produce, mingling and blending in beauteous har- 
mony, like the gold and silver and crimson, the 
lights and shades and shadows of a western sun- 
set. It would be well were this picture impressed 
upon our thoughts, thrown upon canvas, or writ- 
ten down in words, as an inspiration of patriotic 
thought and impulse. This picture is the noble 



but siiflFering birth and trying childhood of our 
liberty, the opening grandeur of our country's 
history, her marvelous growth and her mission in 
the world. In the opening foreground is the 
"Father of his country," seen as in dissolving 
views, with the environments of childhood and 
youth, a citizen, a warrior, a statesman, and the 
mellow shades of domestic life, each leaving its 
impress, enriching beauty and increasing worth, 
emphasized on every hand by the attestations of 
his character and service, until it is confidently 
asserted that "No nobler figure ever stood in the 
forefront of a nation's life," (13) 

But we lay no claims to the talents of an 
artist, we can only sketch the thought and leave 
it for hands more skilled, a hand divine, per- 
haps, to hold it up where the rays of eternal light 
and truth shall fall upon it, and the love and ven- 
eration of a nation and of the world shall tint it 
with immortal freshness, and impress upon the 
hearts of recurring generations the work and 
worth and character of our nation's hero. 

Let us trace, a little, that fringe of land on 
the eastern slope of the Alleghanies, bordering 
on the Atlantic, and stretching northward from 
the Carolinas to the St. Lawrence, and mark it as 
the colonial inheritance of our fathers of our 
liberty. New York and Boston and Philadelphia, 
then, were meagre towns and the country back 
was sparsely settled. A clearing here and there 
marked the home of the early settlers, and now 

(13) J. R. Green — History English People. 
37 



and then might be seen a trapper's or a traveler's 
hut and some small town or hamlet. Primeval 
forests stretched far and wide, abounding in wild 
beasts, and interesected by lakes and rivers richly- 
stocked with fish. Thrown back of this and reach- 
ing out to the west and south three thousand 
miles or so, picture to yourselves the wild un- 
broken forests, the virgin prairies, and mighty 
rivers, the mountain ranges and scenery unsur- 
passed in beauty; mines of untold wealth and 
fields of marvelous richness, — all undiscovered and 
untraversed, save by wild beasts and the untutor- 
ed Indians, except in the nearer west where some 
lone missionary had found his way. Look upon 
this scene, as now we know it was, but then un- 
seen except by the prophetic eye, and guessed at 
by the keen-eyed statesman of our earlier times, 
and make this the distant background of that 
historic scene where Washington lived and moved 
and led and conquered and ruled; and retiring to 
private life wore his laurels and universal praise 
with the modesty of a saint. Trace then the 
Virginia colony as it was a hundred and sixty 
years ago, settled only sparsely, and that too east 
of the mountains, except an outpost here and 
there, and make this the foreground of our hero's 
early life. A series of scenes in which he figures 
now appears. The child on the banks of the 
Potomac and the Rappahannock, learning wisdom 
and the exercise of faith in a Christian home. 
The fatherless boy, first in all his studies among 
his mates in school and noted for his strength 
38 



and varied exercise of physical powers. The 
youth in his brother's home, the companion of 
cultured and admiring friends. The young sur- 
veyor, carrying his compass and stretching his 
line over hills and through the valleys, and cut- 
ting his way through tangled wild-wood. The 
dangerous journey of hundreds of miles north- 
westward, through unbroken forests as commis- 
sioner to the French. The fearless Aid-de-Camp 
of General Braddock, Colonel and Commander of 
the Provincial troops. The ardent lover, who, as 
a youth, found it more difficult to capture the 
hearts of maidens than in later years to conquor 
the armies of a worthy foe; — a lesson which in 
practical life exemplifies the fact that diffidence 
and modesty may be in human life like the out- 
ward covering of some of the choicest nuts and 
fruits, calculated to protect the choicest souls 
until ripened for the Master's use. Prominent 
in the foreground of this scene, touching the 
varied phases of that young life which was to 
play so important a part in the world's history, 
appears the wealthy planter who for fifteen years 
holds with increasing honor and importance his 
place in the House of Burgesses, and is proprietor 
of Mount Vernon, from which radiates so much 
of the life and character and domestic joy of 
Washington. Would that this scene might be 
pictured in all its varied beauty, touching the 
outer and inner life of him who stands foremost 
in our country's history, and that it might be 
placed as an object lesson for our American youth, 

39 



— a lesson of virtue, worth and industry, — the les- 
son of an unselfish life lived for others and 
touching the heart of the world and of human 
kind. 

Commander=in=Chief. 

There is something of romance but of inspira- 
tion withal, to stand on the open plat by the old 
Elm tree in Cambridge, under which Washington 
took command of the Army, where, after Concord, 
Lexington and Bunker Hill, was to follow the 
bloody trail of eight weary, suffering years, — 
the doorway of a nation which was destined to 
shape the political history of the world. The news 
of Lexington and Concord has reached the Con- 
tinental Congress. (14) Troops are to be raised, 
an army is to be created, a leader to be selected, 
and the question is, "Where is the man?" John 
Adams is on the floor. He describes the situation. 
The poverty of the Colonies, and the powerful na- 
tion to be resisted are shown. He describes the 
man that is needed, shows the qualities and char- 
acteristics of the ideal commander; — then turn- 
ing suddenly to George Washington, who had been 
looking and listening intently, he steps forward 
and lays his hand upon his shoulder, saying: 



(14) After having been selected as Commander-in- 
Chief, and when about twenty miles from Philadel- 
phia, on his way to Boston to take command of the 
army, he was met by a messenger who told him of 
the battle of Bunker Hill. He asked, "Did the militia 
fight?" He was told how they fought; he said, 
"Then the liberties of the country are safe," and rode 
on. — Fiske. 

40 




^^'ashingtQXl's first Headquar 
ters at Cambridge, JNlass. 



Elm tree in distance, under 
which Washington took com- 
mand. 

Washington taking command of the 
army at Cambridge. 



"And this is the man." After the war as a token 
of his respect and admiration, Frederick the 
Great, of Prussia, sent Washington his sword 
with this compliment: "From the oldest soldier \ 
of Europe to the greatest soldier of the world."/ 
Between this declaration of Adams and that of 
Frederick the Great, there is a history which has 
called forth the admiration of the highest mili- 
tary critics. 

New England and New York. 

The siege of Boston and its enforced evacuation, 
and the practical ending of the war in New Eng- 
land; (15) the outgeneraling of the British com- 
mander in the campaigns of Long Island, New 
York, the lower Hudson and New Jersey, even 
when looked upon in the light of a series of de- 
feats, when the odds were all in favor of the Brit- 
ish and against the Americans, are chapters of 
tragic interest in the story of the Revolution, and 
have won for Washington strong commendation 
and enduring fame from men of the highest mili- 
tary genius. A little study will show that New 
York was then the military center of the United 
States. If the British could push a wedge through 
this center, New England would be effectually cut 
off from cooperation with the more southern states. 
Washington saw the military importance of this 

(15) Nothing struck me so much as General Wash- 
ington's attaclsing and giving battle to General 
Howe's army ; to bring an army raised within a year 
to do this, promised everything. — Prime Minister Ver- 
gennes. 

41 



and determined at all hazards to prevent it. 
Congress and some of the officials appeared to be 
blind to the possibility, and to the design and 
efforts of Washington. But this was the plan 
of the British minister and for this purpose a 
three-fold invasion was planned. Burgoyne and 
St. Ledger were to come down from the north 
and General Howe was to go up from New York 
and join them on the Hudson, at Albany, or 
thereabout. To consummate this plan, however, 
they had to deal with the genius of Washington. 
He had planned for the northern army and was 
diligently watching Howe and his troops. Every 
effort to ascend the Hudson was foiled, and the 
surrender of Burgoyne and the victory of Sara- 
toga, — named by Cressey as one of fifteen decisive 
battles of the world, — were thus made possible. 
But here we cannot stop to tell the story of our 
Independence. We can only pause a little at the 
threshold of a few of the tragic chapters in order 
that we may the better know the life and char- 
acter of Washington. 

On the Delaware. 

It is the dark midnight of the Revolution. The 
English Commander has been held back, but the 
cause of liberty lies cold and deathlike on the 
banks of the Delaware, save alone the Commander 
and a fragment of the army, — ^bleeding, freezing, 
starving, — the forlorn hope of liberty. Because 
of his apparent victories. General Howe had been 
made a "Knight Commander of the Bath," and 

42 



the occasion of his receiving the red ribbon was to 
be celebrated by Christmas festivities, in New 
York. Cornwall is had already packed his port- 
manteaus and was soon to sail for England. (16) 

Trenton and Princeton. 

There hangs on the walls of many of our homes 
a picture which represents Washington crossing 
the Delaware amid the sweeping current and float- 
ing ice on the cold Christmas night of 1776. Gen- 
eral Howe, who is receiving honors for his "Bril- 
liant successes," is to be disturbed in his reverie 
of conquest and awakened from the fumes of 
Christmas festivities; and Cornwallis will need 
to order back his portmanteaus, and wait a little 
before he ships for England. It is taken for 
granted by the British commander that Washing- 
ton's strength is exhausted and the war virtually 
ended. But a few American hearts are not de- 
spairing; and among these Washington safely 
stands first. He has the full grasp of the politi- 
cal and the military situation. "At this mo- 
ment," says Dr. Fiske, "the whole future of Amer- 
ica, and of all that America signifies to the world, 
rested upon this single Titanic will." (17) Under' 
the strain of treachery and defeat, and the full 
tension of patriotic resolve, the lion in the man is 
aroused, he is desperately in earnest and his 
greatness asserts itself. A brief campaign is 
planned, but one which is to change the tide of 
the war and attract the attention of the world. 

(16) Flske — Critical period. (17) Fiske, etc. 
43 



The army of 6,000 was to cross the Delaware 
in three divisions and at three different points. 
It was a dreadful night, — cold, and sleet and driv- 
ing snow, and the river was full of huge cakes of 
floating ice. At sunset Washington was at his 
place of crossing with 2,500 men. The passage 
was extremely dangerous, so dangerous that the 
other divisions, though brave and led by men of 
courage, did not venture to cross. But Washing- 
ton is not to be foiled. Experienced boatmen, 
fishermen from Marblehead, ferry across, and 
without the loss of a man or a cannon, though 
the crossing required ten hours and more. The 
landing place was nine miles above the city, and 
then came the march through sleet and driving 
snow in two columns. Sullivan sends word to the 
commander that the ammunition is wet. Word 
is sent back, "Tell the General to use bayonets, 
for the town must be taken." (18) As they came 
in sight of the Hessian tents the sun had already 
risen and haste was needful. Washington, it is 
said, rose in his stirrups, waved his sword and 
said: "There, my brave friends, are the enemies 
of our country! and now all that I have to ask 
of you, is to remember what you are about to 
fight for! March!" (19) All are familiar with the 
victory at Trenton and the capture of Princeton 
which, together, ushered in the twilight of the 
morning. A few days after the capture of Tren- 
ton, December 29th, the patriot army again cross- 

(18) Lodge, p. 208. 

(19) See Alex. Hamilton. 

44 



ed the Delaware, where so lately it had captured 
the Hessian troops. On the second of January- 
it was learned that Cornwallis had hastened from 
New York and was on his way to Trenton with 
8,000 men. Washington sent out scouting parties, 
to harrass and delay the enemy. These parties 
accomplished their purpose. They were steadily 
pressed back, and at nightfall were closely fol- 
lowed. Permit the writer, here, to tell the inci- 
dent, as his great-grandfather, who was in one 
of the scouting parties pressed back by the Brit- 
ish, has told it: "As we came to the bridge 
across the river, the Red coats were at our heels. 
We expected to be captured, supposing that our 
main army was farther back. As we came upon 
the bridge it was too dark to see plainly, but we 
heard a voice, saying: 'File to the right and 
left, boys, as you come from the bridge.' As soon 
as I heard the voice I knew it was Washington's 
and I felt as safe as though I had been in my own 
home. The cannon were planted in the road 
commanding the bridge, and as we left and the 
British came on they were mown again and 
again." The confidence in, and love of the sol- 
diers for their leader is manifest in this little 
incident, and in the refrain of Trenton: "The 
soldiers all love Washington, they all love Wash- 
ington." The strategy of Washington at Tren- 
ton, the night-march to Princeton, the battle there 
and the hasty retreat of the enemy, are familiar 
to all. In a short campaign of less than two 
weeks two decisive victories had been won, 2,000 



prisoners taken, and New Jersey practically freed 
from the invading foe. Before Cornwallis 
went to bed that night at Trenton, he thought his 
/game secure, and said: "At least we have run 
J down the old Fox and we will bag him in the 
I morning." When the morning came he awoke, and 
looking across the stream where the American 
army had been camped the night before, he saw 
the camping ground, but all was still and the 
army gone. He heard the booming of cannon on 
the Princeton road and guessed the meaning. The 
"Old Fox" had played his game successfully, and 
Cornwallis could never quite get over it. At the 
banquet of honor, given by Washington, to the 
field and staff officers of both armies — an affair 
before unknown in all military annals — ^three 
days after the surrender at Yorktown, in re- 
sponse to the toast, "To the British Army," Corn- 
-f wallis said: "In my judgment, when history 
I shall transmit for the admiration of all coming 
ages, the illustrious achievements of your excel- 
lency in this protracted struggle, Fame will gather 
the brightest laurels with which to crown you, 
rather from the banks of the Deleware than from 
the shores of the Chesapeake." And again in 
expressing to Washington "his generous admira- 
tion for the wonderful skill which had suddenly 
hurled an army four hundred miles from the 
Hudson river to the James with such precision 
and such deadly effect, 'But for all,' he added, 
'your excellency's achievements in New Jersey 

46 



were such that nothing could surpass them.' " 
Another military genius in Europe, Frederick the 
Great, is reported as saying after investigating 
the battles of Trenton and Princeton: "It was 
the greatest campaign of the century." Senator 
Lodge in his "Story of the Revolution," has said: 
"No greater feat can be performed in war than : 
this. That which puts Hannibal at the head of: 
the great commanders was the fact that he won 
his astounding victories under the same general 
conditions." (20) 

In the most hopeless hour of the Revolution, 
the genius and audacity of Washington had flashed 
forth as from a death-threatening cloud, and had 
given hope to the nation and had attracted the 
attention of the powers and the military geniuses 
of Europe. With a dwindling, suffering army, 
in the very trail of defeat and against over- 
Avhelming odds, he had won in two remarkable 
battles; in fact he had won two campaigns and 
had completely foiled the enemy, had driven him 
from the Delaware and compelled him to retire 
to New York, had then the skill to select a posi- 
tion where he could watch the enemy, but where 
he could neither be successfully attacked, or with- 
out danger be left in the rear. 

Valley Forge. 

For Washington, personally, Valley Forge 
marked the darkest period of his life, and here 
the cause of liberty hung trembling in the bal- 

(20) Lodge— Fiske. 

47 



ances. We may not picture the sufferings of the 
army, and the infamous intrigues of congressmen, 
demagogues and foreign adventurers against the 
Commander-in-Chief during the dreadful winter 
of 1777 and 1778. Valley Forge holds a place 
unique in the history of our country and of the 
world, for suffering patience, fortitude and un- 
conquerable loyalty and devotion to the cause of 
liberty. The very name brings a tremor and a 
shudder to every sensitive soul and friend of 
justice and human liberty, and also a glow of 
pride and gratitude for the brave ones who sac- 
rificed and won. No General has ever had more 
unbounded confidence from his soldiers than Wash- 
ington. Never have inherent powers, noble quali- 
ties and undying loyalty to the cause of freedom 
shone more conspicuously. General Gates had 
succeeded in supplanting Schuyler at Saratoga on 
the very eve of victory; and in the glamour of 
that victory, which in no sense belonged to him, 
he was now seeking to supplant Washington him- 
self. But the "Conway Cabal," in which Gates 
and Conway and MiflBin and Charles Lee, together 
wih certain members of Congress, were the prin- 
cipal actors, has gone down into history as one of 
the most disgraceful plots in our record. It was 
too shallow and dastardly to be consummated. 
While this plot was planning at the seat of Con- 
gress, the half-clad soldiers, barefooted and hun- 
gry, without blankets or straw between them and 
the frozen ground, were there on the hill side in 
the dead of that dreadful winter. Washington 



plead with Congress and sought in every way, but 
long without avail, to relieve the sufferings of his 
soldiers. He goes out among the trees, beside the 
camp — Ah! what a picture! Worthy the master- 
piece of a master artist — kneels on snow and ice, 
with mantle wrapped about him, and pleads with 
God for relief and final victory. Such devotion 
in such a cause could not fail; it did not fail. 
Relief comes at last; the intriguers are scat- 
tered. The old world was looking on. France, 
with LaFayette and many others of her noble 
sons, invites herself to help the struggling child 
of liberty. The sufferings and experiences of Val- 
ley Forge were destined to bring the victories of 
Monmouth and Yorktown. 

rionmouth. 

The treacherous conduct of General Charles 
Lee (21) and the attitude of Washington towards 
it, will always be associated with the battle of 
Monmouth. On the morning of the battle, Lee 
was ordered to open the attack. He made a feint, 
and then turned his back upon the foe and or- 
dered a retreat. Washington, with the main 
army, was advancing to the support. LaFayette 
sends a hasty message to his Chief that his per- 
sonal presence is needed at once, Washington 
puts the spur to his horse; he sees the situation — 

(21) Lee's treachery was planned with Lord Howe 
— See communication between Lee and Howe, March 
27, 1777. Hidden for eighty years, and found in 
domestic archives of Sir Henry Starchey, secretary 
of Howe. — See Fiske's Revolution. 

49 



sublimely angry, it is said, he meets Lee in 
retreat, and demands, with the vials of his wrath 
open, "What is the meaning of all this?" The 
traitor winces and trembles in his stirrups. The 
question is repeated, emphasized, it is claimed, 
with a terrible oath. (22) Lee argues, it was not 
prudent. "Whatever your opinion," was the re- 
ply, "I expected my orders to be obeyed." Wash- 
ington wheels his horse and like Sheridan at 
Cedar Creek, gathers the disordered troops and 
leads them back to victory, while Lee goes back 
to his court martial, is suspended, and then ex- 
pelled from the army, retired to private life, dying 
at last in "a mean public house in Philadelphia, 
friendless and alone." 

Yorktown. 

In the palace of Versailles there is a room de- 
voted to historic paintings representing the vic- 
tories of France. Among the number is one out- 

(22) "It was at Monmouth, and on a day that 
would have made any man swear. Yes, sir, he swore 
on that day, until the leaves shook on the trees, 
charming, delightful ; never have I enjoyed such 
swearing before or since. Sir, on that ever memora- 
ble day he swore like an angel from heaven." — An 
Officer who icas present. H. p. 215. See also Fiske's 
Revolution, Vol 1, 237-238. 

This does not argue in the least that Washington 
was addicted to profanity. Lawrence Washington 
and Robert Lewis affirmed that they never heard him 
swear in their lives. They were his nephews and very 
intimate. 

I was often in Washington's company under very 
exciting circumstances and never heard him swear or 
profane the name of God in any way. — General Por- 
ter fields Brigade Inspector. 

50 




Rochambeau. 

Admiral De Grasse. Washington. Lafayette. 

Ccrnwallis. 




^'ORKTO^VN. 
Section of battlefield and House in which capitula- 

river. tion was signed. 

Surrender of Cornwallis. 



lining the battle of Yorktown. In this painting 
Rochambeau is represented as holding the com- 
manding position, while Washington holds a place 
subordinate in honor and command. The his-? 
torians of our country will never forget to honor| 
Rochambeau, St. Simon, and their 7,000 soldiers,; 
Admiral Grasse and his fleets, LaFayette and oth-| 
ers of his illustrious countrymen. Without these^ 
the story of Yorktown would read far differently 
from what it does, but in the history of wars and 
battles in the grand review of national victories, 
the long procession will always dip the flag of 
special honor, as Yorktown is approached, to 
Washington as the hero of the victory. It was his 
genius that conceived the compaign; it was his 
skill and military foresight that planned the 
siege, and led up to the battle; it was he who 
gathered in the forces and made the surrender 
imperative. On the fourth anniversary of the 
surrender of Burgoyne the white flag was raised 
and Cornwallis, who was no mean or insignifi- 
cant leader, reluctantly laid down his arms and 
acknowledged Washington his superior. As the; 
army marched in surrender, the band played an 
old English melody, — "The World Turned Upside 
Down." What more appropriate and signifi- 
cant. It marked a new era in the history of 
civil governments, of nations and of the world. 
And in the long procession of honored leaders, 
who have borne their banners to victory, the 
nations will always bow in honor and respect to 
Washington as foremost in the great battle for 

51 



political justice, and in the triumph of the intel- 
lectual and the moral over physical superiority. 

Newburgh. 

Newburgh on the Hudson furnishes an incident 
or portraiture of character in the life of Wash- 
ington seldom, if ever, approached in the lives 
of a nation's heroes. Just before, for a few 
hours, and after the surrender of Yorktown, for 
the first time in six years, and the only time 
during his eight and a half years service in the 
Revolutionary army, he visits his home at Mount 
Vernon and then goes back northward with his 
army. He stops at Philadelphia to give inform- 
ation to, and advise with Congress, and then 
joins his army on the Hudson. Here in the 
spring of 1783, they had been waiting the slow 
progress of peace negotiations for more than a 
year, still under military discipline so as to 
avoid surprise from the enemy, and to gain the 
best possible terms of victory. In the month of 
March, after the long delay, Washington had 
called together the officers of the army, and while 
addressing them took from his pocket a pair of 
spectacles, recently presented to him, and the 
first he had ever worn in public, and while ad- 
justing them said: "I have grown gray in your 
service, gentlemen, and now you see I am getting 
blind." The effect was electrical. The manifest 
sympathy and love touched every soul. The oc- 
casion of this meeting was the just and wide- 
spread indignation of the army against Congress 

52 




WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS— NEVVBURGH. 



in its failure to do anything to meet the press- 
ing needs of the army. The soldiers poorly clad, 
with little to eat, without any pay, and without 
any apparent effort on the part of Congress to 
provide for these wants, were exasperated al- 
most to frenzy. They looked upon this as largely 
the result of stolid indifference and unconcern, 
tinged with jealousy, here and there, toward men 
who had fought the battles and won the victories. 
They believed, too, that there was a determina-\ 
tion to send them home without pay and without j 
any adequate provision for it in the future, and 
that their only recompense was to be the memory 
of their hardships, their services and their vic- 
tories. There can be little question that there 
were substantial grounds for their fear and con- 
cern. The soldiers and their Commander, how- 
ever^ were quite as determined that redress should 
be had before the army should be disbanded. To 
effect this in harmony with the spirit of the 
cause in which they had been engaged, there was 
need of extreme caution, wisdom and unselfish 
loyalty. The disaffection of the army, and plans 
for redress found expression in various ways. 
The well known letter of Colonel Nicola, an 
esteemed officer and friend of Washington, sug- 
gesting a kingly crown for the Commander, no 
doubt voiced the feelings of the army and its 
leaders. It met with strong rebuke from the 
Chief, and bitter indignation at the possible 
thought. Petitions for redress were drawn up 
and sent to Congress. Letters, hot with feel- 

53 



ing, were written to those in authority by Wash- 
ington in behalf of his suffering soldiers. Fi- 
nally in the spring of 1783 an anonymous ad- 
dress appeared, able and cleverly written, setting 
forth the grievances of the army, the indifference 
of a deteriorated Congress, and the lack of 
ability in a body of that character, representing 
disunited states, to do what it might msh to do, 
and suggesting a movement, through the army, 
for a more stable government, with Washington 
at the head, and eventually to be king. This ad- 
dress was circulated and a call made for the 
soldiers to meet and consider the matter. There 
was but one man who could prevent these words 
from becoming deeds. Washington's great in- 
fluence over his army was here exerted in a 
marvelous manner. To check this movement, 
which threatened to be most serious, he issued 
a general order condemning the proceedings sug- 
gested and calling the meeting to which we have 
referred. For presiding oflBcer, Washington had 
appointed the senior officer, Major General Gates, 
of the "Conway cabal" notoriety, and in whose 
office, it is now known, the anonymous address 
was written, and by one of his aids — Major Arm- 
strong. In his address, Washington appealed to 
them, if he had not been among the first to con- 
cern himself in the interest of their common 
country; if he had ever been other that a faith- 
ful friend to the army; if he had not been a 
constant companion and witness of their suffer- 
ings; if he had not at all times acknowledged 

54 



their merits, pleased when praise was extended to 
them and resenting unwarranted blame bestowed 
upon them; if so, "It can scarcely be supposesd, 
at this last stage of the war, that I am indif- 
ferent to its interests." He censured the anony- 
mous address as unworthy of the cause they 
represented. He explained to them the difficul- 
ties under which Congress was laboring, the lack 
of power to do what they might wish to do. 
He appealed to the past of their services and 
their patriotism, and prayed them to leave the 
past unsullied, and let the Revolution close in 
purity. He assured them of his sympathy with 
their grievances and his earnest support of their 
just claims, and assured them that he would do 
all in his power to right them, and expressed 
his firm belief that these matters would be prop- 
erly adjusted. In confirmation of this he began 
to read a letter from one of the members of Con- 
gress^ but finding it difficult, took out his glasses 
with the remark noted which touched every heart. 
He entreated them to submit with confidence to 
their country's justice. At the close of the ad- 
dress he left the room. A resolution was ofiFered 
and the measures he advised were unanimously 
adopted. "We have heard of the trmmphs of 
eloquence," says Mr. Gray, "but when did elo- 
quence ever achieve a victory like this? So com- 
plete and unaided a victory over wounded felings, 
and natural resentment, and personal interest? 
Never! A greater than eloquence was here." An 
illustration of Washington's character, at one of 

55 



the salient points of its genuine greatness, is here 
unfolded. 

Leave Taking. 
The final partings and farwell addresses of 
Washington have become classics in American 
history and literature, and will never lose their 
interest to the American patriot. Great thoughts 
and leading traits of character are brought be- 
fore us in these heart-touching scenes, and far- 
reaching utterances. In his last general orders on 
the disbanding of his army, at Newburg, (23) 
the final leave taking of his officers, in New York, 
a month later, (24) and the formal surrender of 
his commission to Congress and retirement to 
private life, there appear the military genius, 
the dauntless leader, the victorious general — all 
these but more; here are seen the true and trust- 
worthy friend, the spotless character, the unsel- 
fish patriot, the wise, far-seeing statesman. Add 
to these his brief but immortal speech as presi- 
dent of the Federal convention, gathered to frame 
our National Constitution, and his farewell ad- 
dress to the American people, and there are add- 
ed lustre, strength, patriotic devotion and moral 
grandeur, in the shadow of which we are hushed 
into something more than admiration. 

(23) See some Army Orders — Appendix. 

(24) "With a heart full of love and gratitude, I 
now take my leave of you. most devoutly wishing that 
your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as 
your former ones have been glorious and honorable. 
* * I cannot come to each of you and take my 
leave, but shall be obliged if you will come and take 
me by the hand." 

56 




WASHINGTON'S LEAVE-TAKING. 

Resigning of Commission to Congress — Annapolis. 
Farewell to his officers. Parting with officers. 



Federal Convention. 

The convention called together in the summer 
of 1787 to frame the Federal Constitution was 
one of the most remarkable and important gath- 
erings known in the history of civil governments. 
Fifty-five most remarkable men were there to 
form a government which was to be launched 
upon the sea of national life — a government 
toward which all civilized nations have since 
been moving. The deliberations of this conven- 
tion, and the events which led up to it — a con- 
vention which lasted four months, held in secret 
conclave, and the deliberations of which, except 
the results, remained a secret for fifty years and 
until the last member had gone to his rest in an 
honored and ripe old age — is well worthy the 
candid and thorough attention of the student 
of history. 

Washington, through whose efforts and influ- 
ence, largely, the convention was gathered, and 
but for whom the Constitution could not have 
been formulated and adopted, was chosen to pre- 
side. His presence, of itself, was a guarantee of 
moderation, caution and reserve. His well known 
views of what the nation should be, or should not 
be, in its general outline, gave a general trend 
to the instrument; while his words of caution 
and advice, occasionally ofi'ered, seemed to act 
like magic upon the actions and decisions of the 
members. It may be well to quote the address 
above referred to, which "outburst of noble elo- 
57 



quence," it is said, "carried conviction to every 
one." "Rising from his presidential chair, his 
tall figure drawn up to its full height, he ex- 
claimed in tones, unwontedly solemn, with sup- 
I pressed emotion : 'It is too probable that no 
; plan we propose will be adopted. Perhaps another 
[ dreadful conflict is to be sustained. If to please 
I the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, 
j how can we afterwards defend our work? Let us 
j raise a standard to which the wise and the honest 
jean repair; the event is in the hands of God.'" 
Plain unpretentious words worthy to be engraven 
on tiie forefront of our nation's political history. 
After four months of deliberation, sharp con- 
tention and debate, as now we know — all wisely 
kept a solemn secret, then and for half a cen- 
tury to come — by men of marked ability and 
learning, men thoroughly posted in the history 
of nations, confederate states and federal govern- 
ments, w^ith questions new and difficult of solution 
and of vital importance, the constitution was 
finally framed and approved by the convention 
and was ready for adoption by the different states. 
It was not perfect; no one in the Convention 
considered it so. ( 25 ) There were widely differ- 

(25) After the Constitution was formulated by the 
convention, Washington wrote to a friend : "If an- 
other Federal Convention is attempted, its members 
will be more discordant, and will agree upon no gen- 
eral plan. The Constitution is the best that can be 
obtained at this time. * * * The Constitution or 
disunion is before us to choose from. If the Consti- 
tution is our choice, a constitutional door is open for 
amendments and they may be adopted in a peaceable 
manner, without tumult or disorder," 

58 



ent opinions as looked upon by the diiferent dele- 
gates, and from the standpoint of sectional in- 
terests involved; but it was the best, all things 
considered, that could be enacted with any hope 
of adoption by the different states. Provision, 
too, was made for amendments. Looking upon it 
to-day, with a hundred years and more between, 
and with its influence upon the world, as looking 
back over the century, it seems indeed a most ex- 
traordinary document. Comparing our Constitu- 
tion with that of England, Gladstone, who stands 
and must ever stand in the front rank of Eng- 
lish statesmen, has said: "As the British Con-i 
Btitution is the most subtle organism which has 
proceeded from progressive history, so the Ameri- 
can Constitution is the most wonderful work ever 
struck off at a given time by the brain and pur- 
pose of man." Considering the fact, then, that 
Washington, through his personal efforts and 
wonderful influence, made possible the creation 
of that instrument which launched a new govern- 
ment into national life, a nation which is leading 
the world, and which means so much to the 
human race, it is not difficult to believe that 
"because Washington wanted it so" proved an 
important and significant factor in the final adop- 
tion of the Constitution. 

President— Building tlie Nation. 

The young government was born, but it must 
needs be nourished, protected and cared for, until 
developed and strong, porportionate to the dan- 
59 



gers to be surmounted. There was but one man, 
aa was then, and is now believed, sufficient for 
the task. To this man of providence the work 
was committed by the unanimous voice of the 
people, and marvelously did he succeed during 
the eight eventful years of his leadership. 
Through those formative years of the nation's 
infancy with a wise, firm and fearless hand, he 
guarded and directed the frail young life, regard- 
less of himself or of personal interests, of abuse 
or of intoxicating praise. The outlines, the skele- 
ton of a nation, the raw material of a government, 
were committed to his care; he left these organi- 
ized into active life, healthful in growth, and 
with flattering promise of future vigor and 
strength, with the impress, too, upon the nation 
of his own marvelous foresight, wisdom and ma- 
jestic character. There are certain gems of great 
value, the worth of which is dependent, largely, 
upon the composite whole; these have various 
faces, forms and angles, and every part is of al- 
most priceless value, and beyond compare, in its 
peculiar beauty. Turn these faces, points and 
angles to the sun and one appears more costly 
than another, though but a part of one united 
whole. The service rendered by Washington, as 
President of the new Republic, if comparison were 
to be allowed, was greater, or of a higher type 
and farther reaching than the victories in the 
field. It was the reconciliation of conflicting in- 
terests of separate states and binding them 
together into indissoluble union, the establish- 
60 




o a 






^. .K 






ing of a nation, marvelous in resources and al- 
most limitless in its power and destined to in- 
fluence the actions and modify the political char- 
acteristics of the nations. Here a scene appears 
to me, as though it were from a single sitting, 
but in reality extending through months and 
years — w^ould that it might be pictured in its 
clear and truthful light. To me it appears a key 
to the success of Washington in this higher 
sphere, where he stands acknowledged to be one 
of the loftiest characters and one of the greatest 
statesmen of the world. None but a man of su- 
perlative worthy strength and wisdom ventures 
to choose as his advisors, in positions of great 
trust, men such as he selected; men who must 
stand in the coming history of the land, as now 
they stand, constructive and creative geniuses, 
foremost thinkers of the age — men of magnificent 
thought and mental grasp. Jefferson was chosen 
as pre-eminent in fitness to hold in rightful rela- 
tions, to the young Republic, foreign powers; 
Hamilton to rescue a bankrupt government, and 
make her honored among the nations of the 
world, and marvelously beyond all expectations 
was it accomplished; while Jay was selected as 
head of the judicial department. Jefferson was 
an extremest in his views of the rights of indi- 
vidual states; Hamilton in his views of a central 
government. It is not our purpose here to com- 
pare the merits of the political views held by 
these two men, or to trace their branching 
theories. Both were giants in intellect, and mas- 

61 



ters in statesmenship — Jefferson a "profoundly in- 
fluential statesman in the realm of ideas," Hamil- 
ton like Ceasar or Cromwell or Burke, "in the 
realm of facts and ideas." Men will always dif- 
fer as to which was the greater. Talleyrand has 
said: "I have met the great men of Europe, 
Bonaparte and Pitt and Fox, but the greatest of 
these is Hamilton." Others thought the same of 
Jefferson. At opposite poles in their theories of 
government, they were at constant war with each 
other from the first; but both have pushed their 
thoughts and views and lives forward in the 
principles of our government. Both were right 
and both were wrong, and both will continue to 
live so long as our government shall exist. Which 
has the greatest influence in shaping American 
history and American institutions may not here 
be discussed. As to a centralized government, the 
issues of the war of the Rebellion is in evidence 
in favor of Hamilton, while Jefferson, notwith- 
standing his radical views as to the rights of the 
individual states, showed his warm attachment to 
the Union in the Louisana purchase; and inci- 
dentally his opposition to slavery, which was the 
occasion or basic cause of the war, was as in- 
tense as that of Washington and Hamilton. 
Washington, however, stands above them both, 
not indeed in constructive and creative powers, 
as such, but in judgment, insight, wisdom and 
in the combined qualities of a statesman. Both, 
openly and tacitly, acknowledged him as their 
superior; though each, no doubt, thought him- 
62 



self competent to manage the affairs of the state, 
and that without him things would likely go to 
ruin. The great statesman does not feel himself 
independent of others. Washington had not the 
intellectual polish, or philosopic thought of Jef- 
ferson, or Hamilton's creative genius, incision or 
masterly grasp of fiscal measures, but he had 
what was essential for a leader, the good sense 
to know that he needed the counsel of men like 
these, and the same good sense to choose them. 
He had a sterling character and a wonderful 
balance of intellectual powers. He had the capa- 
city to combine and balance the great and essen- 
tial qualities of his advisors and to utilize them 
in their environments in the interests of the in- 
fant nation and mankind, and the added wisdom 
to guide the ship of state amid the dangerous 
shoals and menacing breakers which threatened 
the course of government. Washington was called 
to a stupendous work, one of the greatest in the 
world's history. It had its precedents but not its 
equal. The new government was to embrace the 
essentials of two great political theories. These 
theories were not necessarily antagonistic, but 
to utilize them they must be harmonized. In the 
whirl and swirl of events, incident to the birth 
and growth and nurture of the infant nation, 
these important and fundamental principles were 
often hidden behind and underneath distressing 
feuds, ignoble contentions, threatening entangle- 
ments of European politics, national and interna- 
tional problems of grave and weighty interests; 
63 



but these frequently did not expose their genesis 
or indicate their parentage. Careful examination 
shows that in almost every important measure 
with which Washington had to deal as executive, 
contending and apparently antagonistic claims 
had to be considered. Localism and democracy 
on the one hand, nationalism and aristocracy on 
the other, had to be duly weighed and balanced. 
This was the great central feature of Washing- 
ton's administration, often obscured and lost to 
view by surface events and the lack of penetra- 
tion on the part of the observer. Often did he 
groan under the burden, and his life was not 
unfrequently embittered with abuse from those 
who little comprehended the value of his work, 
or his worth. These two political theories, which 
thus far in the history of the nation have never 
been brought together and fully harmonized, were 
represented by the two brilliant Secretaries in 
Washington's cabinet. Hamilton represented Na- 
tionalism. Jefferson, who was somewhat tinctured 
with French idealism^ represented Localism. The 
latter placed his idea of democracy in unneces- 
sary antagonism to Nationalism. "He was," as 
Prof. Trent asserts, "a cosmopolitan in spite of 
his localism in matters of detail and his mind, 
unluckily for us, passed over the middle term, be- 
tween feudalism and cosmopolitanism, which of 
course is nationalism." Washington's effort was 
to bring together these two political theories, 
harmonize and utilize them, and bring out there- 
from a unique and symmetrical form of govern- 

64 



meiit which should be a blessing to the world and 
to the race. Washington's experience with Con- 
gress during the war led him to favor a strong 
central government, and the years of the Confed- 
erac;/ confirmed him in this opinion. He and a 
feAV far-sighted cotemporary statesmen recognized 
from the first the national character of our Con- 
stitution — nov: almost universally admitted and 
evidenced by the outcome of the war of the sixties 
— in which the French idealism which affected 
Jeflferson and his followers did not play an im- 
portant part. "He believed in a strong central 
government," duly limited and tempered with 
democratic principles. He called these men of 
genius into his cabinet and sought to harmonize 
their ideas, but when he could not, and had to 
decide, it was toward Hamilton and National- 
ism. (26) There seems to be a current idea that 
the work of V^ashington in his cabinet was prin- 
cipally to manage these men. This view, I am 
persuaded, is at direct variance with the facts in 
the case. Washington was the mastermind in the 
cabinet. He did not cower at their feet nor fear 
them. He honored and respected them, and prized 
their talents. He called them to his council that 
he might use them and their gifts. He sought to 
harmonize their ideas and utilize their thoughts 
for the present good and future welfare of the 
nation over which he was called to rule. This 
appears to be the great central feature of Wash- 

(26) "He was a Federalist and was willing to 
flatly pronounce himself as such." — Wilson, S07. 

65 



ington's administration, and these men the great 
central figures. But this is only the outline. In 
the background and foreground and on either side 
the important measures of that administration 
should be sketched in suitable form and proper 
characteristics, radiating from the great central 
principles. The principle of neutrality, taken to- 
wards the nation which had so befriended us in 
our struggle for liberty — a position though seem- 
ingly ungenerous, yet which has elicited the praise 
and admiration of the greatest statesmen of 
Europe, and even from France herself. (27) The 
Excise law and the Whisky Rebellion at Pitts- 
burgh, the result of which demonstrated to the 
lawless that they were dealing with a nation. 
The tariff measures and the financial ideas which 
have outlived those times and have become a 
part and parcel of the monied principles of the 
nation. The calling to account "Citizen Genet" 
and his privateering scheme. The compromise 
which located the National capital and nation- 
alized the war debt, which with far-sighted 
statesmen cancelled the theory of the congeries 
of states. Jay's treaty with England, so bit- 
terly fought and concerning which there was so 
much bad blood shown, though quite unsatis- 
factory, was the best that could be obtained 

/ (27) The younger Pitt, in indicating the attitude 
of the English government towards the principles of 
neutrality, was questioned, on the floor of the House 
of Commons, what he meant by the principles of neu- 
trality. He replied, and his reply sealed the lips of 
his opponents, "The principles laid down in the presi- 
dency of Washington." 

66 



at the time and better than none at all. (28) 
Let these have their rightful place and character, 
and be given their proper shading, with the less 
important measures interspersed, each coming 
from its proper source and from the figures of 
the scenes, all too grand and full of meaning, in 
their gracious and far-reaching benefits for those 
who stand too near to understand and to see with 
clearness. Then let the black cloud of abuse ap- 
pear, rising as it did, until it shadows the entire 
scene, and burst at last in all its fury. It seems 
almost incredible; but so it was, and so it is with 
all great men, at times, that live and work and 
even die for others, Washington himself was no 
exception. The unwarranted abuse meted out was 
at times almost more than he could bear. "The 
curs of the press," as Professor Trent describes 
the defamers, as Freneau, Duane and their ilk, 
"were let loose upon him," and strange to think, 
Jefferson, even, appears to have countenanced 
some of these assaults, in his intense antagonism 
to Hamilton and to his ideas of government. He 
could not seem to comprehend how Washington 
could embrace ideas of government different from 
his own, except for weakness caused by age. But 



(28) To Henry Lee . Washington wrote concerning 
the treaty with Great Britain : ''For the result, as it 
respects myself, I care not; for I have a consolation 
xcithin no earthly efforts can deprive me of, and that 
is that neither am,Mtious nor interested motives have 
influenced my conduct. The arroivs of malevolence, 
therefore, however barbed and tvell-pointed, can never 
reach the most vulnerable part of me; though, whilst 
I am up as a mark, they will be continually aimed." 
(The men who made the nation — Edwin E. Sparks,) 

67 



the cloud-burst spent its fury and is gone. The 
air is purer, the sky is clearer and the scene more 
beautiful and significant for the strength and 
traits of character and marks of statesmanship 
which might have otherwise escaped the notice 
of the world. At the end of his administration 
many of the difiiculties with which the govern- 
ment had been beset were surmounted. He saw 
the young nation at peace with all the world and 
its growth assured. This was no longer a matter 
of doubt at home or abroad. He had given his 
farewell address, that incomparable document, to 
the American people, refusing longer to remain in 
office; he retired to private life, loved, honored 
and respected by the nation and the world and 
with assured praise of generations yet to come. 
To his lasting credit, Jefferson has left his meed 
of praise and prophesy. A sentence only need be 
quoted, a statement made years after he himself 
left the Presidency, and near the close of his life: 
/"Washington's fame shall go on increasing until 
i the brightest constellation in yonder heavens shall 
Vbe called by his name." 

Home Life— Character Impress— Genesis of 
Imperishable Worlc. 

In that great life which has made its impress 
on the nations and on the hearts of men, another 
scene confronts us which seems to reflect and 
shadow forth the man in the very zenith of his 
greatness, and affords the key which opens the 
inner door to the supreme secret of that transcen- 

68 




GEORGE AND MARTHA WASHINGTON GROUP. 
At 25. Widow Custis. 

In 1798. 
In 1795. In 1790. 



dent personality which reflects its helpful light 
and charming beauty on every page of our nation's 
history. 

The writer stood one day, at eventide, on the 
banks of the Pamunky, It was during the dread- 
ful war which decided the unity of our nation, 
and the fact of a strong central government, in- 
stead of a congeries of states. It was historic 
ground. There rose the great white chimneys of 
the "White House," relics of army desolation, 
where was once the home of Mrs. Custis. More 
than a hundred years before Washington had 
passed that way. He had won the heart and hand 
of her who was henceforth to be inseparable from 
his life; and now he had gone to this her home 
to take her to his beloved Mount Vernon. This 
dwelling place on the Potomac is familiar ground. 
The tourists of our own and other lands go 
there to come in touch with greatness, or to- 
catch some inspiration from scenes now sad and 
lonely, but suggestive, and fragrant too with 
thoughts of what they meant in the home life of 
him who is sleeping in the marble casket at the 
tomb, and beside the one whose life had been in- 
separable from his own. He lives, however, in the 
hearts of his countrymen, who turn with pride 
and admiration to his domestic life. Here we 
may read the genesis, the motives and the innate 
qualities of the man that have made his life im- 
perishable. Here we find the secret springs of 
heart and soul which have made his greatness 
sublime, and which gave form and shape and tint 
69 



to all these acts of public life that an admiring 
world has recognized^ and that have caused the 
great men of the generations since to vie with 
each other in eulogy and praise; qualities that 
have given new significance to human greatness. 
With such greatness the most astute were not 
familiar. Men stood and wondered, half paral- 
yzed in thought and amazed, then sought a solu- 
tion. The conclusion guessed at before was 
reached at Newburgh, when having been prof- 
fered a crown by his comrades and faithful sol- 
diers, he spurned the offer, and denounced the sug- 
gestion with indignation, and by force of his loyal 
and unselfish character and wonderful tact, quelled 
a riotous army and held it to loyalty towards 
the cause for which they had fought and suf- 
fered. He had sacrificed the comforts and en- 
joyments of home and family and had been fight- 
ing, not for a crown, but for liberty and a com- 
mon country. At Annapolis, when he returned 
to Congress his commission, "happy in the con- 
firmation of our independence," and, "retiring 
from the great theater of action," having finished 
the work as a trust committed to him, he claimed 
"the indulgence of retiring from the service of his 
country," and added, "I here offer my commis- 
sion and take my leave of all the employments of 
public life." * * * "j resign," he said, 
"with satisfaction the appointment I accepted with 
diffidence — a diffidence in my abilities to accom- 
plish so arduous a task, which, however, was sup- 
erceded by a confidence in the rectitude of our 
70 



cause, the supreme power of the Union and thfe 
patronage of heaven." The glorious achievements 
and victories of the war were duly acknowledged, 
with gratitude to God and thankfulness to his 
countrymen. "I consider it my indispensable 
duty," he said, "to close this last solemn act of 
my official life by commending the interests of 
our dear country to the protection of Almighty 
God, and those who have the supervision of them 
to His holy keeping." He seems, in his modesty, 
to have forgotten the praise meted out to him 
on every hand, and to have been ignorant, or un- 
mindful at least, that he had become the hero 
and idol of the people, not attributing to him- 
self merit independent of others and of a higher 
source. His exhibition of unaffected modesty, 
genuine simplicity, and the crowning touch of 
sincere and unselfish patriotism, and due ac- 
knowledgment of divine Providence, shamed sneak- 
ing calumny into silence and gained the at- 
tention of the world. They were but the over- 
flow of that great soul whose motives were not of 
self, but reached to heaven, cultured and developed 
in the home life at Mount Vernon. Such self-for- 
getfulness, with such great deeds accomplished, 
and such significant powers, seemed to stand 
alone. Men stopped and wondered, but few could 
question. Even General Mifflin, who was one of 
the leaders in the "Conway Cabal" five years be- 
fore, now president of Congress, said to him on 
receiving his commission: "You retire from the 
theater of action wdth the blessings of your fel- 
71 



low citizens; but the glory of your virtues will 
not terminate with your military command; it 
will continue to animate the remotest ages." Con- 
cerning this sought for retirement from public life, 
Lord Brougham said of him : "Retiring with the 
veneration of all parties, of all nations, of all 
mankind, in order that the rights of men might 
be conserved, and that his example might not be 
appealed to by the vulgar." Confirmatory of all 
the rest, as touching his unselfish motives and 
righteous am.bitions, and most conclusive, stands 
his work as the first and the greatest President 
of the nation; his farewell to the American peo- 
ple; (29) and his retirement to private life, a 
life in itself pure, beautiful and exemplary as a 
private citizen. These rounded out a life mar- 
velous as it was sublime. Marvelous in that focal 
power which shed its light and infused its spirit 
all the way from the Shenandoah, Fort Duquesne 
and Braddock's field to Trenton, Yorktown and 
Newburgh on the Hudson, and then, more than 
others, the means of gathering up the states and 
fashioning them into a nation which was destined, 
because of its exalted principles, to lead the na- 
tions of the world. Sublime in the reflected 
brightness of increasing worth and influence 
thrown back upon the man whose pure life, do- 
mestic virtues, lofty motives and high ideals, 
touched and permeated, and gave direction to his 



(29) Alison, the British historian, has pronounced 
Washington's farewell address "Unequalled by any 
composition of uninspired wisdom." — Slaughter, 23. 

72 



magnificent powers and sent them out to deeds 
sublime, to strike the higher notes of liberty and 
to make the nation his enduring memorial. Like 
the rays of the noonday sun, or of the strong 
search light, which may reach and lighten the 
darkest places of the earth, the grandest work and 
effort in the life of Washington never ceased con- 
nection with the pure and simple and unselfish 
heart that pulsated at Mount Vernon and made it 
what it was and what it is in the thought of 
the American people. This is the scene which we 
conceive and which confronts us now, with the 
Mount Vernon home as the central figure, and 
the heart of Washington as the focal power, pro- 
jecting, in its gracious light, deeds great and 
grand at which the world has wondered ; and these 
interspersed with events which have joined to- 
gether the more conspicuous acts in one grand 
whole, all tinted and mellowed by the sweeten- 
ing influence of religion and domestic love, touched 
here and there by the social and benevolent in- 
fluence of "The Widow's Son." The background, 
the colonial "Hinterland," rudely scanned by the 
early missionary, and guessed at by the fathers. 
This together is a scene worthy to be chiseled or 
pictured by some Phidias or Raphael, shaded 
and touched by the hand of the Master artist. 
Would that it might be pictured for patriotic in- 
spiration and that this great life which stands 
at the forefront of our history might stand with 
us and with our children for v/hat it means for 
manhood and to our nation, as it stood with 
73 



Gladstone and other Christian statesmen of the 
world. "When I first read in detail the life of 
Washington I was profoundly impressed with the 
moral elevation and greatness of his character, 
and I found myself at a loss to name among the 
statesmen of any age or country many, or pos- 
sibly any, who could be his rival. * * * 
If, among all the pedestals supplied by history for 
public characters of extraordinary nobility and 
purity, I saw one higher than all the rest, and 
if I were required at a moment's notice to name 
the fittest occupant for it, I think my choice at 
any time during the last forty-five years would 
have lighted, as it would now alight, upon Wash- 
ington." (W. E. Gladstone.) 

Summary. 

Had Washington died at the paternal home on 
the Rappahannock, or while surveying the estates 
of Fairfax in the Shenandoah, his name would 
scarcely have found a place in history. Had he 
fallen at Great Meadows, where Jumonville was 
the first victim of that great revolution which be- 
gan thus between the French and English in the 
Colonies, but reached out beyond the sea until all 
the nations of Europe were in commotion, and 
ended at last on the field of Waterloo, his name 
would have had only the passing reference of the 
French commander who was first to fall. Had 
he died while a member of the House of Bur- 
gesses he would have been remembered as scarcely 
more than the rich planter of Mount Vernon. 
74 



Had he died just after the surrender at York- 
town he would have been known chiefly as one 
of the great generals of history. Had he died af- 
ter the Federal convention in 1787, he would have 
been known in the records, in addition to his mili- 
tary fame, as a leader, influential, mainly, be- 
cause cautious, his wise eff'orts to secure a sub- 
stantial government for his country, and as a 
leader, influential in his confidence on the hearts 
of the people. It took his Presidency as head of 
the new government and those eventful years to 
show his statecraft and wonderful wisdom, as one 
of the greatest statesmen of the world. It took 
his final retirement to private life to silence the 
last criticism of his public life, to give the last 
touches to his sublime patriotism and to en- 
shrine his memory in never fading freshness as 
"First in war, first in peace and first in the 
hearts of his countrymen." 

Washington was a representative of the aris- 
tocratic line; but he was quite a commoner in 
soul, and thereby a plebeian. In his heart, the 
principle of freedom and the broad view of equal- 
ity were so firmly rooted that the force of his 
name and character were sufficient to unify the 
Colonies, with the different elements of the North 
and the South, so as to bring about the Union, 
and the establishment of the greatest nation in 
the history of the world. He put himself on a 
level with the common people and breathed their 
spirit. He rose like Chimborazo from the lowest 
plain of human sympathy through all the dif- 
75 



ferent grades of being to the highest peak of 
human grandeur. He gives a lasting refutation 
to the base and communistic thought that wealth 
and wealthy men are sure to be oppressive and 
enemies of the race. His responsibilities were his 
chief educators, under God; and his inner life 
took hold upon these with an energy and a ten- 
acity which defied opposition. His deeds were the 
index of his thoughts and of his inner life. His 
life was a worthy example for a nation's free- 
men. He lived for others. He was dignified and 
reserved, but simple, lowly and modest as a 
child. He fought for freedom. He governed with 
equity, and for the interests of the nation. His 
justice was without reproach and his judgment 
almost perfect. He could stoop, as he ofted did, 
to do the part of the Good Samaritan, while, as 
a modern writer puts it, "There is no greater 
story in human history than that of Washing- 
ton's genius and character, from his beginning 
at nineteen in Virginia to his attainment, Janu- 
ary, 1776, of a place of greatness, forward from 
which for m.ore than twenty years he was on the 
top of the world, the greatest figure the English 
'race has produced." "No nobler figure," says 
Green, the historian, "ever stood in the forefront 
of a nation's history." In 1797, Thomas Erskine, 
a noted laM'j^er, and later Lord Chancellor of 
England, in writing to Washington, said: "I 
have a large acquaintance among the most ex- 
alted class of men, but you are the only human 
being for whom I feel an awful reverence." Lord 
76 




Barn, Mt. X'ernon. Washington's Tomb. 

Christ Church, Alansion, Mt. \'ernon. 
Alexandria. 

Log hut built by 
Washington and in 
which he lodged while 
Garden walk and surveying for Fairfax 

hedges. in the Shenandoah 

X'alley. 



House where 
ington was 



W^ish- 
born. 



Washington' 
Monument. 



Old Tomb. 

Sutter's Tavern in 
Georgetovv-n in which 
Washington and 
Committee met to 
Dlan Capitol City— 
1790. 

Site of home where 
Washington was born, 
on the Potomac. 

The mansion from 
Alexandria road. 



Brougham called him "the greatest of our own! 
or of any age." When Frederick the Great call- I 
ed him "the greatest soldier of the world" and his i 
campaign in New Jersey "the greatest of the cen- I 
tury," we may not forget that the century in- i 
eluded the illustrious Marlborough as well as/ 
Frederick himself. 

"Of all great men," says Guizot, "he was the 
most virtuous and the most fortunate. In this 
world, God has no higher favor to bestow." ; 
Charles James Fox, the great English statesman,^ 
has said: "For him it has been reserved to run I 

5 

the race of glory without experiencing the small-? 
est interruption to the brilliancy of his career." 
All this and vastly more. But notwithstanding 
such unparalleled tribute of praise and honor 
which greeted him from the Old World and from 
the New, it did not inspire in him any spirit of 
pride or self worship, for his was the ever bright- 
ening glory of a Christian hero, who daily took 
the word of God as his counsel and acknowledged 
on bended knee that none but God is great. 



LofC. 



77 




CARLYLE MANSION— ALEXANDRIA. 



APPENDIX. 




^ r I 




■T*-.fc 




CARLVLE MAX SIOX— SKETCHES. 
Washington and Sally Fairfax, Mantel piece in 
grand niece of Lord Fairfax, at council room. 

the San Domingo mahogany Exterior front, 

staircase. 

Extended view of porch and 
frontage. 



APPENDIX. 



While in Alexandria. General Braddock had his 
headquarters in the quaint old mansion familiarly 
known as the Carlyle House. It is most interesting 
to go through this building, with its famous wine 
cellars and underground passage to the river, together 
with the gardens, and old prison vaults which tell 
their silent story of tlie past. This mansion was 
built by Major John Carlyle before Washington was 
born — 1730. From the porch General Braddock re- 
viewed his soldiers just before he began his march 
to Fort Duquesne. They were encamped to the west- 
ward on Braddock's Heights, known during the Civil 
war as Fort Ellsworth. In the room in which was 
the mantel and fire-place here represented. General 
Braddock held his council of war with the five pro- 
vincial governors. It was in this room, too, that 
Washington received his commission as colonel from 
General Braddock and was appointed his aide-de- 
camp. 

For more than three-quarters of a century this 
mansion has been hidden from the street by the Brad- 
dock house, a large brick hotel used in the War of 
the Rebellion as United States hospital for Union 
soldiers. It was in this building that the author's 
brother was cared for after being wounded at the 
Second Bull Run battle, and nigh unto death. 



Washington was a member, in full communion, of 
the Protestant Episcopal church. He was one of the 
founders of the Pohick church, in the Mt. Vernon 
parish. He was one of the vestrymen of this church 
and also of others, including Christ church in Alex- 
andria which was built later, and of which he was 
a regular attendant shortly before and after the 
Revolution, as also after his retirement from the 
Presidency. 

He was free from bigotry and always "strove," to 
use his own words, "to prove a faithful and impartial 
patron of genuine vital religion." All Christians hon- 
ored and revered him. Lutherans, Episcopalians, 
Presbyterians. Baptists. Methodists, expressed confi- 
dence in and admiration for him. Brown University 
gave him the honorary degree of LL. D. Bishop As- 
bury and Dr. Coke of the Methodist church visited 
him in his home at Mount Vernon. 
81 



In 1795 a centennial celebration was held in New 
York to commemorate the treaty between England 
and the United States and to eulogize Washington 
for his wisdom and statesmanship in establishing 
that treaty. 

"All his features, he (Mr. Stewart) observed, were 
indicative of the strongest passions, yet like Socrates, 
his judgment, and great self-command, has always 
made him appear a man of different character in the 

(eyes of the world. * * The whole range of his- 
tory does not present to our view, a character upon 
which we can dwell with such entire and unmixed 
admiration. * * He was indeed a man of such 
rare endowments, and such fortunate temperament, 
that every action he performed, was alike exempted 
from the character of vice or weakness. * * All 
his qualities were so happily blended, and so nicely 
harmonized, that the result was a perfect whole ; the 
powers of his mind and the dispositions of his heart, 
were admirably suited to each other. * * It was 
a higher species of moral beauty. It contained every- 
thing great and elevated, but it had no false and 
/tinsel ornament. * * General Washington is xmt 
(the idol of a day, but the Hero of A^es. * * He 
had Yhe supreme courage which can'' act. or forbear 
to act, as true policy dictates, careless of reproaches 
of ignorance, either in power or out of power. He 
knew how to conquer by waiting, in spite of obloquy, 
for the moment of victory, and he merited true praise 
by dispensing unmerited censure. * * Glory was 
but a secondary consideration. * * It is some con- 
solation amidst the violence of ambition, and the 
criminal thirst of power, of which so many instances 
occur around us to find a character whom it is hon- 
orable to admire and virtuous to imitate. * * His 
.glories were never sullied by those excesses into 
' which the highest qualities are apt to degenerate. 
■ With the greatest virtues he was exempt from the 
. corresponding vices. He was a man whom the ele- 
ments seemed so blended, that nature might have 
stood up to all the world and owned him as her 
work. He is bound to no country, and will be con- 
fined to no age. — Lord George Canning, late Prime 
Minister of England {died 1826.) 

Dignified with no show of ostentation * * * 
candor, sincerity, affability and simplicity, seem to 
be striking features of his character. — John Bell 
{Maryland, 178^.) 

He was neither ostentatious nor ashamed of hia 
82 



Christian profession * * His religion became liini. 
He brouglit it with him into office, and he did not 
lose it there. He deserved the singular commenda- 
tion, that instead of being corrupted by success, his 
virtues alwaj's expanded with his fortune : the sea- 
son of his prosperity was that of his moderation. — 
J. Smith, Esq. (Exeter, N. H., Felt. 22, 1800.) 

Lilie Fabius he was prudent ; like Hannibal he was 
unappalled by difficulties ; like Cyrus he conciliated 
affection : like Simon he was frugal ; like Scipio he 
was chaste; like Philopoeman he was humble; and 
like Pompey he was successful. If we compare 
him with the characters of the Sacred Rec- 
ords, he combined the exploits of Moses 
and Joshua, not only by conducting us safely 
across the Red Sea and through the wilderness, but 
by bringing us into the promised land ; like David 
he conquered an insulting Goliath, and rose to the 
highest honors from a humble station ; like Hezekiah 
he ruled ; and like Josiah at his death there is a 
mourning, etc. The generals whom he opposed wrap- 
ped their hilts in black, and stern Comwallis dropped 
a tear. — William Linn, D. D. (.New York, Feb. 22, 
1800.) 

"Faithful Clio, well mayest thou exult ; there has 
once lived a man, who had power without ambition, 
glory without arrogance, fame without infatuation ; 
who united the meekness of a Christian, with the 
influence of a despot ; a man whose heart did not 
sink by misfortune, and whose head became more 
steady by elevation ; a man, who saved a country 
by his valor, and could receive its praises without 
assumption. — Oeorge Blake. 

He had religion without austerity ; dignity with- 
out pride ; modesty without diffidence ; coui'age with- 
out rashness ; politeness without affectation ; affa- 
bility without familiarity. His private life, as well 
as his public one, will bear the strictest scrutiny. — 
David Ramsay, M. D., Jan. 15, 1800. 

He was second to none in the humble and endear- 
ing scenes of private life. Pious, just, humane, tem- 
perate and sincere ; uniform, dignified, and command- 
ing, his example was edifying to all around him, as 
were the effects of that example lasting. To his 
equals he was condescending, to liis inferiors kind, 
and to the dear objects of his affections, exemplarily 
tender. The purity of his private character gave 
effulgence to his public virtues. — Gen'l Henry Lee in 
House of Congress, Dec. 26, 1799. 

83 



'Although his opponents eventually deemed it ex- 
pedient to vilify his character, that they might di- 
minish his political influence ; yet the moment that 
he retired from public life, they returned to their ex- 
pressions of veneration and esteem ; and after his 
death, used every endeavor to secure to their party 
the influence of his name." — Dr. Aaron Bancrop. 

He is a plain country gentleman, polite and easy 
of access, and a friend of mankind. I was loth to 
leave him, for I greatly love and esteem him, and 
if there was no pride in it I would say, we are sure- 
ly kindred spirits, formed in the same mould. — Dr. 
Coke. 

What a reward for Washington ! What an influ- 
ence is his ! and will be ! One mind, one will trans- 
fused into millions ; one character a standard for 
millions ; one life a pattern for all public men, teach- 
ing what greatness is, and the pathway to undying 
fame. * * They recognize him a simple, stain- 
less and robust charactei*, which served with dazzling 
success the precious cause of human progress through 
liberty, and so stands, like the summit peak of the 
Matterhorn, unmatched in all the world. — Dr. Charles 
W. EHott^ President Harvard College. 

Washington, himself, was the best type of the citi- 
zen soldier the world has ever yet produced. — Oencral 
W. T. Sherman. 

He was the incarnation of duty, and he teaches us 
to-day this great lesson — that those who would asso- 
ciate their names with events that sjall outlive a 
century, can only do so by high consecration to duty. 
— President Benjamin Harrison. 

The pre-eminent figure in modern or in ancient 
history, the world over, — the man who has left the 
loftiest example of public and private virtue and 
whose exalted character challenges the admiration 
and homage of mankind * * * the most famous 
figure in all merely human history. — Rohert C. Win- 
throp. 

Mankind perceived some change in their ideas of 
greatness. * * The splendor of power, and even 
the name of conqueror, had grown dim in their eyes. 
* * They knew and felt that the world's wealth, 
and its empire, too, would be a bribe far beneath his 
acceptance. — Fisher Ames. 

84 



His integrity was most pure: his justice tlie most- 
inflexible I have ever known : no motives of interest 
or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able 
to bias his decision, lie was indeed in every sense 
of the word, a wise, a good, and a great man. — 
Thomas Jefferson. 

Washington never permitted his public action to be 
influenced by personal affection or personal hostility. 
— Chief Justice Fuller. 

I found him kind and benignant in the domestic 
circle, revered and beloved by all around him. — El- 
kanah Watson {1785.) 

He has acted the conspicuous part on the theater 
of human affairs, sustained his part with uniform 
dignity, amidst difficulties of the most discouraging 
nature, having arrived through them, at the hour 
of triumph, with glory. — Jedekiah Morse (1789.) 

Malice could never blast his honor, and envy made 
him a singular exception to her universal rule. For 
himself he had lived enough, to life and to glory. 
For his fellow citizens, if their prayers could have 
been answered, he would have been immortal. — John 
Adams, in address to Congress at death of Wash- 
ington. 

Dr. Curry, after speaking of his general character 
and public services, has said : "Back of all this there 
was beyond any reasonable doubt, in his private and 
personal character, a purity and an elevation above 
the meanness that so often disgraces great names, and 
a loftiness of patriotism that abundantly justifies 
the admiration that is bestowed upon his name." — 
Daniel Curtly, D. D. 

Not so abnormally developed in any direction as 
to be called a genius, yet he was the strongest be- 
cause the best balanced, the fullest rounded, the most 
even and most self-masterful of men — the incarnation 
of common sense and moral purity, of action and 
repose. — Chauncey M. Depeiv. 

He was the first man of the time in which he 
grew. His memory is first and most sacred in our 
love ; and ever hereafter, till the last drop of blood 
shall freeze in the last American heart, his name 
shall be a spell of power and might. — Rufus Choate. 

This great man fought for liberty. His memory 
will be forever dear to the friends of freedom in two 
worlds. — Napoleon (Feb. 20, 1800.) 
8S 



Scipio was continent, Caesar was merciful, Hanni- 

: bal was patient ; but it was reserved for Washington 

to blend in one glow of associated beauty the pride 

of every model and the perfection of every master. — 

Phillips, the Irish Orator. 

I have always admired your great virtues and 
qualities ; your disinterested patriotism, your un- 
shaken courage and simplicity of manners, — qualifi- 
cations by which you surpass men. even the most 
celebrated of antiquity. — Count Hertzburg, Prime 
Minister under Frederick the Great, Berlin. 

Until time shall be no more will a test of the 
progress which our race has made in wisdom and 
virtue, be derived from the veneration paid to the 
immortal name of Washington. — Lord Brougham. 

You are, in my eyes, the great and good man. — 
Thomas Contcay (of Conway cahal notoriety xchen 
wounded in duel, supposing his oxen death near.) 

In the early part of the Nineteenth Century a few 
Americans were in Vienna and united to celebrate the 
birth of Washington. They invited the Emperor 
Francis of Austria to honor the occasion with his 
presence. The emperor thanked them but said : "You 
must excuse me from uniting with you to honor the 
memory of your illustrious countryman, since I could 
not do so with sincerity, for Washington scorned a 
crown, and did more to bring royalty into contempt, 
than all men who have ever lived." 

In a grand point of character, Washington will 
ever stand out in history as greater than William 
the Silent — a greater than almost any statesman 
in supreme place in the whole record of modern his- 
tory. His unshaken devotion to the right, his per- 
fect justice, his transparent truthfulness and lofty 
sense of honor, will ever place him above even the 
best of modern statesmen. * * * We find Wash- 
ington even what the Greek philosopher dreamed of. 
but never found in flesh: "The man who stood four 
square, upright and without reproach." * * The 
consummate sagacity and dominant virtue of Wash- 
ington united the two parties and saved the young 
commonwealth from a premature explosion of the 
struggle which began sixty years after his death. 
* * The close of such a career was altogether wor- 
thy of the spotless record. To compel his fellow citi- 
zens to suffer him to descend from what was a seat 
of power far above the throne of monarchs, to do 
this in the maturity of his physical and mental pow- 
86 



ers, and solely as a great example to his successors, 
has given the world a new conception of moral dig- 
nity and republican simplicity. * * * The grand 
endowments of Washington were character, not imag- 
ination, judgment not subtlety, wisdom not brilliancy. 
* * He lived to see the crown of his work and 
left it to his country as a stainless record. — Frederick 
Harrison. 

Harnack's testimony to Washington was in sub- 
stance as follows : In his judgment Washington is 
to be placed above Cromwell, or any great soldier and 
leader of modern times, since he was not only one of 
the world's most brilliant military tacticians, but also 
one of its greatest patriots and most far-seeing and 
self-sacrificing statesmen. The character of Wash- 
ington stands out conspicuous for a fine balance of 
noble qualities and makes him noble in personal life 
as well as grreat in action.— ( President Samuel Plantz, 
L. University.) 

The talents and great actions of General Washing- 
ton have insured him, in the eyes of all Europe, the 
title, truly sublime, of "Deliverer of America." — 
Count de Estaing. 

He is the foe to ostentation and vain glory. Mod- 
est even to humility, he does not seem to estimate 
himself at his true worth. He receives with perfect 
grace all the homages that are paid to him, but he 
evades them rather than seeks them. * * To an 
unalterable tranquility of soul he joins a most exact 
judgment. * * His courage is calm and brilliant. 
* * One cannot fail to give him the title of an ex- 
cellent patriot, of a wise and virtuous man. — Prince 
de Broglie. 

He shows the utmost reserve, and is very diffident, 
but at the same time he is firm and unchangable in 
what he undertakes. His modesty must be very as- 
tonishing, especially to a Frenchman. He speaks of 
the American war as if he had not directed it ; and 
of his victories with an indifference which strangers 
even would not affect. — John Pierre Brisscot (1791.) 

A character of virtues so happily tempered by one 
another, and so wholly unalloyed with any vices, as 
that of Washington, is hardly to be found in the 
pages of history. * * Illustrious man, deriving 
honor, less from the splendor of his situation than 
from the dignity of his mind ; before whom all bor- 
rowed greatness sinks into insignificance. I cannot, 

87 



indeed, help admiring the wisdom and fortune of this 
great man. — Charles James Fox. 

It will always be well with Washington. He is the 
greatest of men, and he will be venerated by man- 
kind when my fame shall be lost in the vortex of 
revolutions. — NapoJeon (to an American in the year 
of Washington's death.) 

Washington did the two greatest things which, in 
politics, it is permitted man to attempt. He main- 
tained by peace the independence which he conquered 
by war. And to-day his doctrines have well nigh 
permanent value for the prosperity of the American 
nation. — Guizot. 

He has ever shown himself superior to fortune, and 
in the most trying adversity has discovered resources 
till then unknown : and as if his abilities only in- 
creased and dilated at the prospect of difficulty, he 
is never better supplied than when he seems destitute 
of every tiling, nor liave his arms ever been so fatal 
to his enemies as at the very instant when they had 
thought they had crushed him forever. He is in- 
trepid in dangers, yet never seeks them. Like Peter 
the Great, he has. by defeats, conducted his army to 
victory, and like Fabius, but with fewer resources and 
more difficulty, he has conquered without fighting and 
saved his country. — Chaplain Ab6e Claide RoMn. l 

General Washington has left on my mind, the idea 
of perfect whole. Brave without temerity, laborious 
without ambition, generous without prodigality, noble 
without pride, virtuous without severity. This is 
the seventh year he has commanded the army and 
obeyed the Congress. More need not be said. * * 
Let it be repeated, Conde was intrepid, Turenne pru- 
dent, Eugene masterly. It is not thus Washington 
will be characterized. * * It will be said of him, 
"At the end of a long civil war he had nothing with 
which he could reproach himself." — Marquis de Cha^s- 
tellux. 

SOME ARMY ORDERS. 

Army order as Commander of Virginia Troops : 
"Any soldier who shall presume to quarrel or fight 
shall I'eceive five hundred lashes, without the benefit 
of a court-martial. * * Any soldier found drunk 
sliall receive one hundred lashes, without benefit of a 
court-martial." 
(MG). 

88 



As commander of the Virginia troops Washington 
wrote to Gov. Dinwiddie, April 18th, 1756 : "I * * 
can call my conscience to witness, and what I suppose 
will be a still more demonstrative proof in the eyes 
of the world, my orders to witness, how much I have 
endeavored to discontinuance gambling, drinking, 
swearing and irregularities of every kind." 
(M'G). 

"The officers are desired, if they hear any man 
swear, or make use of an oath or execration, to or- 
der the offender twenty-five lashes immediately, 
without a court-martial. For the second offense, they 
will be more severely punished." — (June, 1756.) 

(As early as 1756 while in command of the Vir- 
ginia troops he forbade gambling and other evil prac- 
tices under severe penalties. — See above.) 

As Commander-in-Chief of the American Armi. 
(M'G). 

The day following his taking command of the 
army at Cambridge, as Commander-in-Chief, he issued 
the following order : The General most earnestly re- 
quires and expects a due observance of those articles 
of war, established for the observance of the army, 
which forbid profane cursing, swearing and drunken- 
ness. And in like manner, he requires and expects 
of all officers and soldiers, not engaged on actual 
duty, a punctual attendance on divine sei'vice. * *) 
(M'G). 

February 26th, 1776 : "All officers and non-com- 
missioned officers, and soldiers, are positively for- 
bidden playing at cards and other games of chance. 
At this time of public distress, men may find enough 
to do in the service of their God and their country 
without abandoning themselves to vice and immor- 
ality." 
(M'G). 

On May 26th, 1777, instructions to Brigadier-Gen- 
erals : "Let vice and immorality of every kind be 
discouraged as much as possible in your brigade. * * 
See that the men regularly attend divine worship. 
Gaming of every kind is expressly forbidden, as being 
the foundation of evil and the cause of many a brave 
and gallant officer's ruin. Games of exercise for 
amusement, may not only be permitted, but encour- 
aged." 
(M'G). 

On the 8th of January, 1778, at Valley Forge, the 
following order was issued : "The Commander-in- 
Chief is informed that gaming is again creeping into 
the army. * * * He, therefore, in the most sol- 
emn terms, declares that this vice in either officer or 



soldier shall not, when detected, escape exemplary 
punishment ; and to avoid discrimination between 
play and gaming, forbids cards and dice under any 
pretence whatsoever." 

On August 30th, 1776. the following order : "The 
General is sorry to be informed that the foolish and 
wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, • * 
Is growing into fashion ; he hopes the officers will, 
by example as well as influence, endeavor to check it ; 
* * * it is a vice so mean and so low, without 
any temptation, that every man of sense and char- 
acter detests and despises it." 

Farewell Order to the Army at Newburgh. 

"* * * It is earnestly recommended to all the 
troops, that, with strong attachments to the Union, 
they should carry ^ with them into civil society the 
most conciliating dispositions, and that they should 
prove themselves not less virtuous and useful as citi- 
zensfi than they have been persevering and victorious 
as soldiers." — {A selection from.) 

"He laid the foundation of our policy in the un- 
erring principles of morality, based on religion." — 
Oeneral Harry Lee. 

"Washington served us chiefly by his sublime moral 
qualities." — William E. Channing. 

"His noblest victory was the conquest of him- 
self." — Fitz-Hugh Lee. 

"The mere politician, equally with the pious man, 
ought to respect and cherish religion and morality as 
the firmest props of the duties of men and citizens." — 
Washington. 

"Possessing strong natural passions, and having 
the nicest feelings of honor, he was in early life 
prone keenly to resent practices which carried the in- 
tention of abuse or insult ; but the reflections of 
mature age gave him the most perfect government of 
himself. * * His actions were not the semblance 
but the reality of virtue. * * He was as eminent 
for piety as for patriotism. His public and private 
conduct evince, that he impressively felt a sense of 
the superintendence of God and of the dependence of 
man. * * In principle and practice he was a 
Christian. * * During the war he not unfrequent- 
ly rode ten or twelve miles from camp to attend 
public worship ; and he never omitted this attendance, 
when opportunity presented. In the establishment 

90 




GROUP OF CHURCHES WHICH FIGURED IN LIFE OF 
WASHINGTON. 

Old South Church, Boston. 

St. Paul's Church, New York. Christ Church, Philadelphia. 

Christ Church. Alexandria. Interior Christ Church.* 

St. Peter's Church in which Washington 

and Airs. Custis were married — 

Ir itorior C Ji rict, C l mc ch, Alexandria., 

Pojrh|ck Church. 



of his presidential household, he reserved to himself 
the Sabbath, free from the interruptions of private 
visits, or public business ; and throughout the eight 
years of his civil administration, he gave to the insti- 
tutions of Christianity the influence of his example." 
— Dr. Aaron Bancroft. 

"^Yashington was always a strict and decorous ob- 
server of the Sabbath. He invariably attended divine 
service once a day when in reach of a place of wor- 
ship. * * On Sunday no visitors were admitted to 
the President's house save the immediate relatives of 
the family, with only one exception, Mr. Speaker 
Trumbull, who had been confidential secretary to the 
Chief during the war of the Revolution." — {Q. W. P. 
Custis' Recollections.) 

During the war he not unfrequently rode ten or 
twelve miles from camp to attend public worship, 
and he never omitted this attendance when oppor- 
tunity presented. 

It is exceedingly interesting to look over the many 
army orders touching the observance of the Sabbath 
all along the course of the war, and the various ap- 
pointments for other religious services, thanksgiving 
for victories, all of which have the ring of true and 
sincere trust and dependence in God. 

I quote an extract from another order (May 2d, 
1778) : "The Commander-in-Chief directs that di- 
vine service be performed every Sunday at 11 o'clock, 
in those Brigades to which there are Chaplains — those 
which have none to attend the places of worship 
nearest to them — it is expected that officers of all 
ranks will by their attendance set an example to 
their men. * *" 

The appointment of the day following the surrender 
at Yorktown as a day of praise and the appointment 
of Chaplain in Federal Congress and the incidents 
connected with it are most interesting and show the 
substantial religious character and devout spirit of 
Washington. 

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to 
political prosperity, religion and morality are indis- 
pensable supports, etc." (He admonished the people 
that unless morality was rooted in religious principle 
it could not live long.) — William Linn, D. D., Feb. 
22, 1800, New York. 

He was a sincere believer in the Christian faith, 
and a truly devout man — Chief Justice Marshall. 

He was Christian in faith and practice, and he was 
habitually devout. — Sparks. 



He is known, as a general rule, to have spent an 
hour every morning and evening in reading the Bible 
and in private meditation and prayer. — slaughter. 

"He gave the proceeds of several farms to the 
homeless. He established a school of charity in Alex- 
andria. He gave $10,000 to what is now Washington 
and Lee University." — See Dr. Slaughter. 

"He had the largest private library on the conti- 
nent. He left 900 volumes in his library when he 
died, and not a work of fiction among them. Wash- 
ington was probably the best scholar on the continent 
at that time in English history, literature and poli- 
tics. * * With his large reading of history, es- 
pecially English history, he understood better the 
great government problems than any other man on 
the American continent, with the possible exception 
of Benjamin Franklin." — E. W. Chafin. 

"To his military career, take it all in all, its long 
duration, its slender means, its vast theatre, its 
glorious aims and ends and results, there is no paral- 
lel in history." — Robert C. Winthrop. 

Letter to Mrs. Custis : 

Feom Fort Cumberland. 
"We have begun our march for the Ohio. A cour- 
ier is starting for Williamsburg, and I embrace the 
opportunity to send a few words to one whose life is 
now inseparable from mine. Since that happy hour 
when we made our pledges to each other, my thoughts 
have been going continually to you as to another self. 
That an all powerful Providence may keep us both 
in safety is the prayer of your ever faithful and 
"Ever affectionate friend, 

"G. Washington." 
"20th of July, Mrs. Martha Custis." 

"Lest some unlucky event should happen unfavora- 
ble to ray reputation. I beg it may be remembered by 
every gentleman in the room, that I this day declare 
with the utmost sincerity I do not think myself equal 
to the command I am honored with." — Washington 
(on being chosen Commander-in-Chief.) 

Letter to Mrs. Washington after appointment as 
Commander : 

Philadelphia, 18 June, 1775. 

"* * * So far from seeking this appointment, 
I have used every endeavor in my power to avoid it. 
not only from my unwillingness to part with you and 
the family, but from a consciousness of its being a 

92 



trust too gi-eat for my capacity, and that I should 
enjoy more real happiness in one month with you at 
home, than I have the most distant prospect of find- 
ing abroad, if my stay were to be seven times seven 
years. But as it has been a kind of destiny, that 
has thrown me upon this service, I shall hope that 
my undertaking is designed to answer some good pur- 
pose." 

Letter to the Speaker of the House of Delegates 
in Virginia : 

"The sole motive, which invites me to the field, 
Is the laudable desire of serving my country, and not 
the gratification of any ambitious or lucrative plans." 

Statement of Indian Chief : 

"* * * Quick, let your aim be certain and he 
dies. Our rifles were leveled, rifles which but for 
him knew not how to miss — 'twas all in vain, a power 
mightier far than we shielded him from harm. He 
cannot die in battle." 

From sermon, Rev. Samuel Davies, later president 
of Princeton College, in August to a company from 
Hanover county : 

"That heroic youth. Colonel Washington, whom I 
cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved 
in so signal a manner for some important service to 
his country." 

"The character of Washington possesses fewer in- 
equalities and a rarer union of virtues than perhaps 
ever fell to the lot of one man." — Washington Irving. 

"Washington is a work of the Almighty Artist, 
which none can study without receiving purer ideas 
and most lofty conceptions of the grace and beauty 
of the human character." — James Kirk Paulding {New 
York.) 

"The voice of praise could not betray him into 
rashness, nor the malignant tongues of slander warp 
him from his duty." — Frederick Frelinghuzen, Major- 
General New Jersey (1800). 

"Then I trembled for my country, no other man 
could have saved it." — General Benjamin Lincoln. 

"His strength was in himself, and he moved the 
world by the power of his character." — Bishop 
Thomas M. Clark, D. D. (Rhode Island.) 

"Washington invested everything he touched with 
a kind of sacredness." — Dr. von Hoist (Germany.) 

93 



"His public letters and documents should be en- 
graven on the tablets of the nation." — John Mason 
Williams (Massachusetts.) 

"Though as intrepid as Hannibal, and fortunate as 
Csesar ; yet mildness and humanity were prominent 
traits in his character : he never pierced a fallen 
foe." — Capt. Joseph Dunham (1800). 

"No one ever passed through the ordeal of power 
and influence more free from the i*emotest suspicion 
of selfish and ambitious designs." — British Register. 

"He laid down all authority — the supreme power — 
to hide his glory in the obscurity of private life." — 
Felix Foulcon (France^ 1800.) 

"If virtue can secure happiness in another world, 
he is happy. In this, the seal is now put upon his 
glory. It is no longer in jeopardy from the fickleness 
of fortune." — Alexander Hamilton (Neiv York). 

Washington was a Mason. He was first initiated 
into the Masonic order November 4th, 1752, before 
he was twenty-one years of age. In 1777 he was 
nominated for Grand Master, but declined. In 1788 
he was elected the first Master of the newly instituted 
lodge in Alexandria. 

"So far as I am acquainted with the principles of 
Freemasonry, I conceive them to be founded on be- 
nevolence, and to be exercised only for the good of 
mankind." — George Washington (1798). 

"I will frankly declare to you, my dear Doctor. * • 
I had rather glide gently down the stream of life, 
leaving it to posterity to think and say what they please 
of me, than by any act of mine to have vanity or 
ostentation imputed to me. * * I do not think 
vanity is a trait of my character." — Washington (H-d, 
290). 

"All see and most admire, the glare which hovers 
around the external happiness of elevated office. To 
me there is nothing in it beyond the lustre, which may 
be reflected from its connection with a power of pro- 
moting human felicity." — Washington (H-322) 

"When I had judged, upon the best appreciation I 
was able to form of the circumstances which related 
to myself, that it was my duty to embark again on 
the tempestuous and uncertain ocean of public life, I 
gave up all expectations of private happiness in this 
world." — Washington (H-322). 

94 






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"Certain I am, whenever I shall be convinced the 
good of my country requires my reputation to be put 
in risk, regard for my own fame will not come in 
competition with an object of so much magnitude." — 
(To Henry Lee.) 

The following extract of a letter written to Wash- 
ington in 1756, by one John Armstrong, concerning 
a custom, then, almost universal, is suggestive, when 
taken in connection with subsequent army orders, al- 
ready noted, letters written by Washington to friends 
and other documents : "But here permit a single re- 
mark flowing from old friendship, and it shall be on 
the infatuating game of card-playing, of which on 
thirty years' observation I am not able to say so much 
good as a witty person once did of what he censured 
as culpable and extravagant piece of dress, 'that it 
covered a multitude of sins' ; but that game, always 
unfriendly to society, turns conversation out of doors, 
and curtails our opportunities to mutual good. I can 
easily presume on your good nature to forgive this 
piece of unfashionable freedom." 

"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few ; and 
let those few be well tried before you give them your 
confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, 
and must undergo and withstand the shocks of ad- 
versity before it is entitled to the appellation. * • 
Do not conceive that fine clothes make fine men, any 
more than fine feathers make fine birds. A plain gen- 
teel dress is more admired, and obtains more credit, 
than lace and embroidery, in the eyes of the judicious 
and sensible. * * The last thing which I shall 
mention, is first in importance ; and that is to avoid 
gaming. * * It is the child of avarice, the brother 
of iniquity, and father of mischief. It has been the 
ruin of many worthy families, the loss of many a 
man's honor, and the cause of suicide. — Washington 
(Letter to Jiis nephew, January, 1783.) 

''Doctor, I die hardj Tiut I am not afraid to go. * * 
I feel myself going (I thank you for your attention) ; 
you had better not take any more trouble about me; 
but let me go off quietly. I cannot last long." — Wash- 
ington (December H, 1799.) 



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